❌ You're on a budget: There are plenty of cheaper bots that'll do a good enough job for many people's needs.

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

And at just 1.4 pounds, it’s one of the lightest handheld vacs in our tests. The only downside to its small size is the small dustbin, which may have to be emptied more than once if you have a sizable mess. For more choices, see our full handheld vacuum ratings.

ADAPTIVE NAVIGATION - A full suite of advanced sensors allow Roomba to navigate under and around furniture, and along edges. Cliff Detect keeps it from falling down stairs.

That’s the big selling point here; this bot is basically hands-free. Fill the S8 MaxV Ultra’s clean water tank and empty its dirty water once a week and change out the dust bag every couple of months. The robot will take care of the rest.

This model also avoids obstacles really well, including chocolate pudding we placed in its path to mimic a dog accident. Even when other robot vacuums were getting stuck in the chocolate mess, the ILife V3s Pro Robot Vacuum sailed past it. We also like its low profile (just 3 inches), which allows it to go under beds Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners or couches more easily than taller models, and we’ve even seen it pick up dog hair that had collected under the bed.

The Combo has a redesigned dock that’s very large — to accommodate two water tanks and a dust bag — but it doubles as a table.

This vacuum is able to sense dirt and boost its power to pull up more debris. And unlike some vacuums that can only clean when you move it forward, this one picks up debris moving both forward and backward.

This robot vacuum and mop is on par with other high-performing Shark vacuums. The standout features are definitely its cleaning ability, quiet operation, and user-friendly app. If some of the other options on this list had you feeling a bit like Goldilocks, with some sounding a bit too feature- or tech-heavy, or others sounding a bit too stripped down, this Shark model is a great middle ground.

An edge-hugging mode makes the robot swing its behind into the baseboards to help mop edges. With its square-ish shape, it got into corners better than most of the round bots. But its 12mm mop pad lift over carpet wasn’t effective, resulting in its pads getting hung up in a few places.

If you want minimal maintenance, automatic vacuums with self-emptying bases (such as Shark AI Ultra) can hold weeks’ worth of debris. For simpler models, check dustbin capacity and how easy it is to empty after each run, especially if you deal with pet hair and daily dust.

❌ You don't need a mop: There's pelo vacuum-only version of this particular model, so if you don't need the mopping capabilities, look elsewhere in the list.

Using Matrix Clean navigation, the Shark ensures no areas are missed by cleaning in a precision matrix grid, passing over each section multiple times for comprehensive coverage.

And a capable robot vacuum could really be worth the investment if you're finding it tricky to stay on top on manual cleaning.