Ive tested 20+ robot vacuums and these are the best for every budget in 2025

The new Roborock Saros 10R is a worthwhile investment for people who are picky about their floors and are willing to pay for a robot vacuum that does the most in terms of cleaning and maintenance. Those folks would prioritize literal wall-to-wall cleaning (edges and corners included) and true barefoot-ready sanitation on floors that need to be mopped on a regular basis, and a full self-cleaning dock that deals with dust, mopping pads, and dirty water on its own.

The Saros 10R would particularly flourish in lived-in homes with complex furniture or hardwood-to-rug layouts, or heavy foot traffic or paw traffic. If your home is fully carpeted aside from the kitchen and a bathroom, it's probably overkill.

Hearing that the Roborock Saros 10R is one of the slimmest robot vacuums on the market probably wouldn't have you thinking that it's also one of the most powerful. But it is, and it's the most well-rounded robot vacuum that I've tested. Its 20,000 Pa of suction power nears the strongest you can get in 2025, and doubles the 10,000 Pa that the Roborock Qrevo Master, my top pick from 2024, had. While it didn't fully ace pulling pet hair off of every pile of rug in my home, it still overall had a great track record with debris from protein powder, to kitty litter, to long human hairs, to whole goldfish crackers. Even on Max mode, it's not very loud, either.

But the Saros 10R really shone during mopping. I firmly back the dual spinning mopping pad setup like this one over the single flat pad design — I always feel like the double movement provides more opportunity to fully wipe up spills and scrub at stains. One of those mops is hinged and can swing out a few inches past the vac's circular body, allowing the Saros 10R to get more detailed along wall edges and in corners than most hybrid robovacs can. Imagine the satisfaction of watching the Saros 10R squeeze into a low-clearance sticky spot, like under the fridge, and then diligently mop that crevice.

Finishing touches include small obstacle avoidance that was about 85 percent reliable around cords, laundry, and shoes in my home, as well as a livestream pet camera that I actually used a lot when I wasn't home.

Read my full review of the Roborock Saros 10R.

The desire to buy a robot vacuum ultimately stems from wanting to be off the hook for cleaning. But if you also want to ensure that you're off the hook for tidying up the floor before sending out your robot vacuum, the Roomba j7 is the most affordable way to do that. It has been rocking a jaw-dropping 50% discount at Amazon for most of spring 2024, dropping it from its usual $599.99 to $299. (You can also opt for the self-emptying and mopping Combo j7+.)

If you live in a space that just needs light daily cleaning (not hardcore shedding cleanup that would fill a dust bin quickly), then losing out on mopping and automatic emptying won't be a huge deal. Rather, small yet cluttered spaces will benefit much more from the j7's ability to dodge the phone charger or laundry accidentally left on the ground.

I'd argue that a robot vacuum's ability to get to the place it needs to clean without any blips is just as important as the cleaning performance itself. The j7 ensures a smooth trip in two ways: super accurate room-to-room smart mapping and a front-facing camera that helps it steer clear of items that a less-advanced robot vacuum would surely try to eat, like cords, socks, or pet waste.

The mastery of this capability, which first wowed me when testing the Combo j7+, is still a rarity in the current robot vacuum market. It's particularly hard to find for under $500, as most vacs that come with this tech require you to pay for all of the other bells and whistles. So even by skipping mopping and self-emptying to stay affordable, the Roomba j7 is still one of the best robot vacuums for most people.

Read my full review of the iRobot Roomba Combo j7+.

The standalone Shark Matrix forgoes the optional self-emptying dock to keep the price point low. The ideal buyer would be someone who cares more about spot cleaning and mapping than manually emptying the dust bin — perhaps in a small space that can't have a vacuum taking up much room on the floor.

This Shark model is the most reliable cheap robot vacuum that I've tested — both in terms of how well it cleans and how well it actually gets where it needs to go. It packs essentials like LiDAR-powered home mapping and more thorough cleaning than Shark's old base tier ION robot vacuums. Smart mapping not only means the robot can be sent to take care of specific rooms on command, but can also spontaneously to clean specific zones within those rooms. Regardless of how complex or simple your space is, reliable spot cleaning is a crucial robot vacuum feature if you really treasure the whole "hands off" benefit.

Shark's Matrix cleaning system is the other reason to choose this vacuum over older Shark vacs, or over the base tier Roombas. Matrix mode goes a little harder than the average single cleaning pass, cleaning from multiple angles in a crosshatch pattern to grab anything that was missed the first time. It's not perfect at sweeping edges and may leave some embedded pet hair behind, but I felt fully confident sending the RV2300 to get food off the kitchen floor or kitty litter explosions off the bathroom floor.

The Eufy X10 Pro Omni would be a stellar find for shoppers who are willing to spend more than a few hundred bucks to bring home a more hands-off experience but who still draw the line at $1,000. With small obstacle avoidance and a self-washing and drying mopping system, this Eufy offers more bang for your buck than the similarly-priced Roomba Combo j7+ or Roborock Q8 Max+. This particular Eufy robovac also has some of the best battery life on the market (even on its highest suction setting), making it an even easier choice for homes with lots of square footage or multiple stories.

Of all the X10 Pro Omni's advanced features, the small obstacle avoidance can't be understated, especially in homes that are, well, lived in. If you could bet money that there's a rogue sock, kid or pet toy, or phone charger on the ground at any given moment (it's the mountain of crap shoved under my bed for me), you'll appreciate the AI-powered small obstacle avoidance, which lets you confidently run the robot vac when you're not home to tidy up first.

Eufy's most elaborate robot vacuum (it's the brand's first self-emptying hybrid that self-refills the water tank and self-washes and dries the mopping pads) was also somehow the most affordable robot vacuum that debuted at CES 2024. That plus small obstacle avoidance are features we usually see in only the priciest vacs in the competition, so the fact that the X10 Pro Omni's resumé has both is seriously impressive.

Props to Eufy for not skimping on wet or dry floor cleaning here. Its official suction power ranking of 8,000 Pa is beastly on paper and proved proficient IRL on messes like spilled dry rice on both medium and flat piles. For wet or sticky messes, it's a rare sub-$800 model with dual spinning mopping pads to actually scrub more than gloss.

Read my full review of the Eufy X10 Pro Omni.

Too many robot vacuums make impromptu spot cleaning much harder than it needs to be. If that's a pain point on your radar, you'll appreciate the straightforward approach of Shark's Matrix line. In particular, the model that mops is one of the best for quick tackling of spills or daily upkeep of a certain high-traffic spot, like near a door, with no clicking around in the app required past simply dragging a box to the desired area. Groundbreaking.

While the Shark Matrix 2-in-1 would be fine in fully carpeted rooms, it's probably best for homes without a heavy rug situation, as the bot requires you to manually point out rugs or carpets in the app and can't vacuum while the water tank is attached.

No tea, no shade: Shark wasn't a huge threat in the robot vacuum market until it overhauled its 2-in-1 line in the winter of 2022. Now, if you come across a robot vacuum with "Matrix" in the title, you know you're in good hands.

You can think of the Matrix Clean system as the robot vacuum embodiment of the "and one for good measure" approach when it comes to cleaning. This applies to both the versions of the Matrix line that mop and the ones that don't. In Matrix mode during regular vacuuming, these Shark models dish out 30 percent better carpet cleaning than the older RV Shark models by vacuuming in a crosshatch pattern to loosen and grab debris from multiple angles. In Matrix mode during mopping, the mopping pad vibrates 100 times per minute to scrub at stains that hybrid models with stationary cloths would gloss over.

This extra attention proved to be quite reliable in my testing. Though the cleaning obviously wasn't as deep as the more premium Shark PowerDetect that I got to try months later, the Matrix Plus 2-in-1 always did a sufficient job at light daily upkeep of kitty litter in my bathroom or minor drops on my hardwood kitchen floor. In fact, I found myself reaching for this Shark over the similarly-priced Roombas that I was testing at the same time — they were missing stuff way more often.

Read our full review of the Shark Matrix 2-in-1 (previously called the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1).

Whether robot vacuums are worth it or not comes with a caveat: It can't be just any robot vacuum. A cheap robot vacuum that acts drunk — scattering crumbs rather than sucking them up, bumping into walls, getting stuck on area rugs — is completely missing that convenience factor that draws people to automated cleaning in the first place. Considering the following nitty gritty criteria specific to your home can help narrow your options:

• Smart mapping: This is a non-negotiable at this point, considering robot vacuums with smart mapping can be scored for under $200 if you find them on sale. Often LiDAR (laser) based, smart mapping refers to the navigational tech that allows a robot vacuum to create and remember your home's layout. This is how it can clean specific rooms on demand, or spot clean a certain zone within a room that you've selected in the mobile app. Small obstacle avoidance is a slightly pricier, but seriously-worthwhile extension of navigational technology. It helps the robot vacuum to detect and avoid items on the floor that other robot vacs would get stuck on, like phone chargers or shoes. For a robot vacuum to be worthwhile, it needs to get to the right place — just saying.

• Suction power: A vacuum is the one purchase that you hope sucks a lot. Suction power is typically measured in Pascals (Pa), averaging between 5,000 to 8,000 Pa for any decent contender since around 2022. The ante is being upped, though: Multiple 2024 flagship models clocked between 10,000 Pa and 12,000 Pa, and several 2025 flagships are casually hitting between 20,000 Pa and 22,000 Pa. Stronger suction will be needed to pick up heavier pieces of debris like pellet cat litter or popcorn (be sure to set a barrier around Lego pieces) and to yank patted-down pet hair from carpet or rug fibers.

• Floor type: Expanding on the point above, carpeting and rugs require stronger suction than hard floors, as well as an extra-wide or self-cleaning brush roll to prevent hair from wrapping. Folks in homes with multiple floor types might consider a bigger, sturdier robovac with large wheels and floor type sensors that can hoist itself over door mats, rugs of varying piles, and transitions from carpet to hard floors.

• Automatic emptying: Because robot vacuums are typically under four inches tall, their onboard dust bins are also small — which means they frequently require emptying. (Dust bins fill up particularly quickly in homes with pets.) A self-emptying vacuum takes that job out of your hands, emptying itself into a larger dust bin in its charging dock. These larger bins can typically hold weeks of dirt without needing to be cleaned or dumped out.

• Self-washing and drying mopping pads: If you're sending your robot vacuum mop combo out to mop almost every day, your life will be much easier if the robot vac's self-empty dock also deals with the dirty mopping pads, too. After mopping, the vac will wash and dry its pads and dispense new, clean water into the tank, so they're ready to go any time you need to start a new cleaning. The dock will also hold the dirty water for up to a week at a time.

• Home layout: Every robot vacuum is equipped with sensors and drop detection. But if your home has lots of rooms, lots of turns, or lots of close-together furniture, you'll have far fewer navigation issues with a model that uses LiDAR laser technology or vSLAM camera technology to map exactly how your home is laid out, including labeling of specific rooms, mental notes of furniture and twists and turns, and the ability to follow zones set by you in the app. In 2024, smart mapping is so common and so affordable that you'd actually be more hard pressed to find a robot vacuum that doesn't have this capability — and if you happen to stumble across one, there's definitely a better option for your money.

• App control: Any robot vacuum that we'll recommend at this point is WiFi-enabled, which means it will be synced with a smartphone app to control scheduling and remote start, map and virtual boundary editing, and suction or mopping levels, as well as occasional more advanced features. WiFi compatibility also typically brings voice control via Alexa or Google integration.

• Battery life and square footage: One of the main complaints people have about their robot vacuum is that it craps out in the middle of the floor. Larger spaces or homes with multiple stories obviously require more time to clean, and how much you prioritize battery life depends on how annoyed you'll be if your robot vac has to take a time out during its queue to charge. Average run times for the list below range between 90 and 150 minutes, which translates to about 500 and 2,600 square feet covered on one charge. Some ultra-efficient models can clock over 200 minutes on one charge, which would only really matter in homes exceeding 3,000 square feet.

• Height and low-profile furniture: No one should have to be scared about what's accumulated under their couch over the past year. A robot vacuum measuring three inches or less in height should be able to scoot under most low-hanging couches and beds. Robot vacuums with mopping gear and a water tank on board are slightly bulkier, but many manage to stay below 3.5 inches.

No, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav doesn't live up to the hype. Dyson claims that its first robot vacuum in almost a decade has twice the suction power of any robot vacuum on the market. While vacuuming was decent in testing done at senior shopping reporter Leah Stodart's home, she wasn't as blown away by the results as she expected — and was full-on disappointed by the 360 Vis Nav's edge cleaning, despite Dyson asserting that the 360 Vis Nav uses a special side duct to reach into corners and along walls better than competitors.

And without a self-emptying dock, mopping capabilities, or small obstacle sensors that detect cords or pet waste (an absolute must in this price range), the Dyson 360 Vis Nav isn't worth $1,199.99. There are more reliable options that have a much more robust list of features, whether you're down to spend over a grand or not.