The best robot vacuum cleaners

Which robot vacuum is best for you? This guide features Tech Advisor’s expert recommendations, so you can find the one that best suits your home and your budget.

If you’ve never had a robot vacuum cleaner, you’ll be surprised at how much difference they can make in daily home maintenance. A Roomba or other robot vac can do everything from taking over your daily clean to regularly targeting especially grimy spots, like under a kitchen table or around a litter tray.

And, if you opt for a self-emptying robot vacuum, you can set a vacuuming schedule and forget about it for a few weeks, while your robot takes over and you come home to shiny floors. This is typically an expensive feature but we can recommend a couple of more budget-friendly options, which you’ll see in the round-up below.

There are other features you might want to consider, like voice command control and obstacle avoidance technology. Some robot vacuums can identify and avoid all kinds of common household objects, from shoes to cables to mugs – and even pet waste. Plus, most will let you zone no-go areas that the robot will avoid, if parts of the house aren’t ready for a clean.

Our full reviews accompanying every robot vac in the following chart will give you all the details you need to find the right one for you. Plus, you’ll be able to see the pros and cons of each model at a glance.

If you want more information on the features to look out for, skip past the chart and start off by reading our robot vacuum cleaner FAQs before checking out our best picks.

To spend a little less, have a look at our round-up of the best cheap robot vacuums we’ve tested. And if you’re in the market for a traditional cleaner, check out our round-up of the best regular vacuum cleaners.

Best robot vacuum cleaners

Why you should trust Tech Advisor

Tech Advisor has been testing technology for almost 30 years and we specialise in providing buying advice. We’ve reviewed dozens of robot vacuums over the years from many different brands. All our in-house team and freelance contributors have specialist knowledge and are trained in rigorously testing devices.

Robot vacuum FAQs and buying advice

Robot vacuum cleaners aren’t the cheapest appliance around but the tech is improving all the time, which means that as newer models gain fresh functionality, some really great models that are only a year old will have dropped significantly in price.

If you’re planning to buy, it’s a good idea to get an idea of what features are important to you and find the cleaner that best fits your profile. You may be able to spend less than you imagine to get everything you want.

How does a robot vacuum work?

Robot vacs work exactly as you’d imagine. On the underside of a robot vacuum is a suction aperture – just like the one you see on an ordinary vacuum. As the robot moves across the floor, it sucks up dust and dirt, just like an ordinary vacuum. Most have a brush bar inside to clean carpets and many feature spinning sweepers on either side, to pull debris into the robot’s path.

When start your robot vacuum cleaner, one of two things may happen. Basic models will begin cleaning right away, following a set path across the room, in a similar pattern to the way that you’d mow a lawn.

More advanced robot vacuums will probably map out the cleaning area first. That doesn’t mean only the room they’re in – they’ll map the entire floor before starting cleaning. You’ll then be able to see the map of your home it’s created in the accompanying app and, in most cases, edit it.

Robot vacuums are usually controlled by a free to download and use app, possibly a remote control and many also via your home assistant – letting you use simple voice commands.

Usually voice commands will be limited to asking it to start, pause, stop and return to the dock.

But you should also bear in mind that the robot vac will need to communicate with you, especially if something goes wrong. Some will have a display that brings up error messages, while others will speak to let you know that they’re starting to clean, returning to the dock, or have had to pause because they’ve ingested a sock.

Via the app, you’ll also get messages and alerts, so if you’re away from home, you’ll know if your cleaner got tangled up with a cable or if it made it back to the dock to charge.

As well as giving you updates, letting you check in on progress in real time and allowing you to schedule cleaning, a good app will give you information on how long parts, including brushes and filters, will last before they need to be replaced.  

As we said above, the app is also where you’ll find the map of your home.

How does a robot vacuum map a room?

One of the most important features of a robot vacuum cleaner is the ability to map boundaries. Less expensive or older cleaners may come with magnetic strips or battery-operated towers you can use to keep your robot vac away from the top of the stairs or block off a room you don’t want cleaned (for example, if you don’t have time to pick up your clothes from the bedroom floor but you’d still like to give the sitting room a once-over).

But most robots will create a very detailed and accurate map of your home which you can access in the app. Many will have space for more than one map, so you can save maps of each floor. You’ll be able to go into your app and add exclusion zones which they’ll then avoid.

Very advanced cleaners with mop capabilities will also let you zone areas for mopping as well. Finally, newer robot vacuums may allow you to add pieces of furniture to maps, which you can then target for cleaning. This gives you the option to request a clean where there’s been a spill or, for example, schedule a regular clean around the kitchen table after dinner.

The best robot cleaners will also use cameras to help them identify and avoid obstacles such as shoes, cables and even pet waste.

Some cleaners with cameras will also let you use them remotely, via your app. This means you can use your robot vac as an additional home security device. And if you use it in conjunction with your app’s remote control, you can drive your vac around to check up on your pets while you’re out.

Can robot vacuums clean carpet?

The answer, in short, is yes. But it depends on which robot vacuum you buy. And you’ll still need to keep an ordinary vacuum around for deep cleaning and spills.

Suction power (measured in Pascals – Pa) is getting better all the time. If you have hard flooring, a less expensive cleaner will do the job but if you have thicker carpets, it’s worth your while investing in something with very good cleaning power. The most powerful robot vacuums at this time can go up to 5,000Pa of suction – but this will likely be in boost or turbo mode and you won’t need anything like this much power to clean hard flooring.

The cheapest robot cleaners may not have a rotating brush bar, which means they won’t be brilliant at cleaning carpets but they’ll do a decent job on a hard floor. A good one will have a full-length rotating brush, making it ideal for picking up hair and fluff on carpets and from the edges of the room.

Will a robot vacuum go under the couch?

Before you invest in a robot vac, it’s a good idea to measure the distance from the floor to the underside of your sofa and other key pieces of furniture.

Robot vacuums can vary in height between 7cm (very low profile), 10cm (medium profile) and 12cm (high). If your robot vac can’t get under your sofa and bed, it can make a big difference to its overall usefulness in your life. And it’ll be even worse if it can just make it under – but then gets stuck.

Can a robot vacuum replace a normal vacuum cleaner?

The answer to this is the same as to another frequently asked question: Can robot vacuums clean stairs? Sadly, no, they can’t.

A robot vacuum can’t clean stairs – but it won’t fall down them either, because it features a variety of sensors. In this case, a drop sensor will stop it before it gets in trouble and it’ll turn around.

So, you’ll need to keep a regular vacuum cleaner to hand for stairs, deep cleaning and getting into corners, awkward gaps and under very low furniture.

Still, a robot vacuum will take over most of your regular vacuuming – especially in the most well-travelled parts of your home. But it can’t do everything.

Are robot vacuum mops any good?

There are separate, specialised robot mops but what we’re talking about here are hybrid robot vacuums that have an inbuilt – or add-on – mop attachment. The traditional design for this is a plate that clips onto the back or underside of a robot vacuum, featuring a small water tank and mop pad. These will only provide a superficial clean. They’re good for going over a just-vacuumed floor to give it a bit of a polish, but they don’t usually apply enough pressure to scrub away stains.

The best types of robot vacuum mops are the newer design, which typically feature a pair of spinning mopping heads or a pad that cleans using a reciprocating (up and down) motion. These provide a much deeper clean.

Generally, robot vacuums don’t use detergent to mop, just cool or warm water.

How often do you have to empty a robot vacuum’s dustbin?

Most robot vacuums have a similar – and very small – dustbin capacity, which means you’ll need to remember to empty them regularly. It depends on how often you run them and how much dust and fluff there is to be picked up, but you should empty out the bin at least once a week and you may have to do it more often.

The most expensive cleaners will have cylindrical (or cyclonic) drums that offer very good suction no matter how full the dustbin is, but many will become less effective the fuller they get.

If you want to schedule cleaning and forget about it, without needing to remember to empty the bin every few days, go for a self-emptying robot vacuum.

Auto-empty robot vacuums come with a much larger charging station. When the robot vacuum return to recharge, its onboard bin is emptied by suction. Typically, the bag inside the dock will be 2.5-3 litres and will need to be changed every 1-2 months. These are also a good option for people with hay fever or allergies, as it means you won’t need to come into contact with dust and dirt emptying the bin.