Best Robot Vacuum of 2023

What is the best robot vacuum?

A good robot vacuum makes it easy to keep your floors clean at home, and after countless hours of tests, we think the Dreametech DreameBot D10 Plus is the best pick for most people. Still, finding the right robot for the job is easier said than done. Shop around, and you’ll find an abundance of options, including well-designed budget picks as well as models with tempting upgrades like self-emptying bins, built-in mopping capabilities and advanced AI image recognition for elite-level obstacle avoidance. 

Every home is different, so the best robot vacuums are versatile enough to handle a variety of housecleaning scenarios. They can keep hardwood, tile, carpet and rugs spick and span. They can handle pet hair and navigate intelligently around furniture or other obstacles. They can find their way from room to room to clean exactly where you want, when you want. Some have powerful suction that even rivals that of handheld vacuums. You’ll need to keep an eye on your budget, though, because robot vacs can set you back more than a traditional vacuum. Some higher-end models cost upwards of four figures; fortunately, we can recommend plenty of perfectly capable cleaners that cost a lot less.

To find the best bots for your buck, we’ve spent the last several years torture-testing the top robotic vacuums in our lab and in our homes. With a variety of controlled tests at our disposal, we evaluate them for their suction power, navigation smarts, ease of use and their ability to clean different kinds of messes from carpets and hardwood floors alike. And yes, we even put them through the poop test.

Among those top models are flagship cleaners from companies like iRobot, Roborock and Neato, as well as compelling picks from lesser-known upstart brands. CNET will continue to test robot vacuums and update this best robot vacuum list periodically as new models become available — for now, let’s get right to the top models we’d currently point you toward.

Best robot vacuums of 2023

How CNET tests robot vacuums

Each robot vacuum we consider for recommendation gets put through its paces in our test lab in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to test floors where we run our controlled pickup tests, we monitor each robot vacuum in a special test room filled with mock furniture to gauge how well it navigates around common obstacles. Past that, we check each robot vacuum’s ability to gobble up pet hair without getting clogged or leaving loose strands behind, we take mopping capabilities into consideration, and we check to see how well it navigates against fake dog messes, too.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the main considerations, starting with our performance tests.

Robot vacuum pickup power

When it comes to vacuuming prowess, we want to know how effective each robot is against common crumbs and other debris, and also how it fares against much smaller particles like dust, dirt and sand. To find out, we use dry, uncooked black rice as a stand-in for the crumbs, and sand as an analogue for finer particles.

In each case, we scatter a controlled amount across three test floors: low-pile carpet, midpile carpet and hardwood floors. Then, we take the robot vacuum, thoroughly empty its dust bin, send it to clean the affected area, and finally measure the weight of whatever it managed to pick up. That gives us a pickup percentage of the full amount — from there, we repeat each run two more times and average the results.

Speaking of results, the graph above shows you how each cleaner we’ve tested over the past few years stacks up on hardwood floors. The iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus is our top-tested cleaner on that surface, picking up averages of 98% of crumbs and an extra-impressive 100% of sand. Right behind it is our top recommendation, the Dreametech DreameBot D10 Plus, which earned a close second place finish on hardwood floors despite retailing for less than half as much as the top-finishing Roomba Combo J7 Plus.

Next up is low-pile carpet. Along with the fact that the orange bars are a lot shorter (vacuuming sand is a bigger challenge on carpets than on hardwood floors because of all the fibers the sand can cling to), note that the order of cleaners is different, with our top midrange pick, the Roborock S7, now leading the way. Different robot vacuums will have different strengths and weaknesses based on their designs, so our variety of tests help us make recommendations that are as informed and well-rounded as possible.

Finally, our midpile carpet results. Neato cleaned up in this test, with the Neato D9 leading all of our CNET-tested cleaners overall and the less-expensive Neato D8 coming in third overall. In between them is the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus in second place. As with the low-pile tests, note that most of the cleaners in the top half of the graph are all relatively close to one another — it isn’t until you get to the bottom of the pack that those bars really start to shrink. That’s good for you as a consumer, because it means that you’ve got a good variety of robot vacuums to choose from that all offer comparable cleaning capabilities across various price points.

One other reminder: These graphs cover the robot vacuums we’ve tested in the past few years. Robot vacuums we tested prior to that span used a slightly different test setup, so the data from those tests isn’t directly comparable. I’ve made sure to point out the past performers that are still good buys, most notably the iRobot Roomba S9 Plus, which did particularly well on midpile carpets and remains one of our top recommendations.

Robot vacuum navigation skills

Your robot vacuum will only clean your home as thoroughly as it’s capable of navigating it. The ideal cleaner will make easy work of finding its way from room to room and automatically avoiding obstacles along the way, all of which makes for proper, low-maintenance automated cleaning.

We make sure to observe each robot vacuum as it cleans in order to get a good sense of how well it navigates, but to get the best comparison from cleaner to cleaner, we take overhead long exposure shots of each one as it cleans our darkened test room, with glow sticks attached to the top of each one directly above the vacuum intake. The images that result show us light trails that reveal the robot’s path as it navigates the room and cleans around our mock furniture. The GIF above shows you a quick succession of three of these images for our top splurge pick, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra. As you can clearly see, it’s incredibly thorough and consistent from run to run, and an expert at running circles around the legs of our test furniture.

Now, compare that to this next GIF, which shows you three runs from our top mopping pick, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus. Notice the difference? The Roomba was less effective at covering the entire room, missing the bottom-left corner in two out of three runs, and it had plenty of difficulty providing adequate coverage around the legs of that mock dining table, too.

So, what gives? In large part, it comes down to the tech at play. Over the years, we’ve consistently noted that robot vacuums that use laser-guided lidar navigation tend to be very good at mapping their environment and finding their way around. Meanwhile, 3D-mapping cameras with object recognition smarts can give robot vacuums an extra ability to identify and adapt to obstacles in their path. The Roborock S7 MaxV uses both technologies, which helps explain why it performs so well here. Meanwhile, the Roomba relies on cameras and sensors alone, with lasers left out of the mix.

Still, those cameras definitely come in handy. Just watch the above GIF, which shows what happened when we put the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus to the test — specifically, its promise of identifying and avoiding pet waste. With a variety of (I assure you, fake) dog poop scattered about a small, enclosed test floor, the Roomba did its best to vacuum the area without touching any of them. It succeeded, never bumping into any of our disgusting-looking test turds at all.

Now, compare that with the Samsung JetBot AI Plus, which also promises to use its cameras to spot and avoid pet droppings. The result was, well, not great — in each test run, it would eventually bump into one of our test piles. Thank goodness they weren’t real.

Other robot vacuums we’ve tested

You’ve seen our top picks and our test data — now, here’s a quick rundown of the rest of the robot vacuums we’ve tested in recent years, some of which are still worthy of consideration for some shoppers:

• AirRobo Robot Vacuum Cleaner P20: Available at Walmart for just $120, the AirRobo P20 is aimed directly at budget shoppers with a very basic design and few features of note. It finished at or near the bottom of all of our cleaning tests, so go with the even-less-expensive Eufy RoboVac 25C if you’re looking for something cheap.
• Dreametech DreameBot L10S Ultra: A souped-up Dreametech model that typically costs at least $1,000, the DreameBot L10S Ultra adds in a king-size, 3L self-emptying bin and self-filling water tanks that let the thing make multiple mopping runs before needing a refill. It was a surprisingly so-so performer in our cleaning tests, getting regularly out-performed by its smaller sibling, the top-rated DreameBot D10 Plus. That model doesn’t have the self-filling water tank, but at several hundred less than the L10S Ultra, it’s the much better buy.
• EcoVacs Deebot 500: Priced at $280, the Deebot 500 is a basic but competent robot vacuum that offers app controls and voice compatibility with Alexa and Google. It wasn’t a strong performer in our carpet tests and is priced too high to count as a budget pick.
• EcoVacs Deebot 600: Available at Walmart and other retailers for about $150, the Deebot 600 offers a slight uptick in performance over the Deebot 500, but it still sucked up less than 50% of the sand in both our low-pile and midpile carpet cleaning tests, which stops us short of recommending it.
• EcoVacs Deebot Ozmo 950: With a retail price of $800 and, as of writing this, a Best Buy clearance price of $400, the Ozmo 950 adds mopping functionality into the Deebot mix. As with other Deebots, the cleaning power didn’t blow us away. Meanwhile, our top-recommended cleaner, the Dreametech DreameBot D10 Plus, is a superior performer that’s less expensive than that clearance price, and it features a mop of its own and adds in a self-emptying bin.
• Electrolux Pure i9: This cleaner features a unique, triangular design, and it incorporates 3D-mapping cameras into the mix for smarter navigation. It’s still available direct from Electrolux for $500, but it was an underachiever in our cleaning tests, so we’d recommend shopping around.
• IonVac Smart Clean 2000: One of dozens of cheap, no-name robot vacuums available from Amazon and other online retailers, the IonVac Smart Clean 2000 was near-competent in our cleaning tests, but always just a little below average. Nothing about it stands out enough for us to recommend it.
• iRobot Roomba 694: This budget-priced Roomba can be yours for just $179, and it does a decent enough job at cleaning carpets and hardwood floors alike. It’s extremely close to the Eufy RoboVac 25C in terms of performance, so if that model isn’t available, give this Roomba a look as an alternative budget pick.
• iRobot Roomba i3 Plus: At $550 or less, this is an entry-level option among self-emptying Roombas, so if you just want something from iRobot that empties its own bin for as little cash as possible, give it a look. It was a middle-of-the-pack performer in all of our cleaning tests, never disappointing us but never really wowing us, either.
• iRobot Roomba i7 Plus: This is another entry-level Roomba with self-emptying smarts, and you can currently get it for a little under $500 on Amazon, though stock appears to be limited. It wasn’t able to suck up much more than 25% of sand in our carpet tests, which suggests some limitations to its cleaning power.
• Neato D9: Nearly identical in appearance to the D8 and the D10, the Neato D9 is a powerful vacuum, particularly on thick carpets, where it leads the way in our cleaning tests among all of the cleaners we’ve tested in the past two years. You won’t get a self-emptying bin or a mop, but if you just want something to keep crumbs and pet hair out of your carpets, it’s well worth a look as an alternative to the Roomba S9 Plus, especially at its current sale price of $279.
• Neato D10: One of the latest D-shaped cleaners from Neato, the D10 promises powerful suction and room-by-room navigation smarts via the Neato app. It was a relatively strong performer in our tests, but we didn’t see enough of an edge over the D8 or the D9 to justify the extra expense.
• Samsung JetBot AI Plus: You already saw it fail our poop avoidance test, and that wasn’t the only place where Samsung’s JetBot AI Plus came up short, with pickup percentages that ranked near the bottom in all of our cleaning tests. At $1,300, this tech-rich robot vacuum just isn’t worth it.
• Shark IQ RV1001AE: A self-emptying cleaner that’s available for less than $500 if you catch it on sale, the Shark IQ RV1001AE is worth a look as an affordable option that empties its own bin. It gathered a respectable 84% of sand from hardwood floors in our cleaning tests, but failed to pick up more than 35% of the stuff in any of our carpet tests, which isn’t as strong as some of our top recommendations.

Robot vacuum FAQs

More vacuum advice and recommendations