From a Kenmore vacuum ideal for dog hair to a bagless Miele for dust-free hardwood floors.
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No more sweeping dirt under the carpet or having dusty, gritty floors. Canister vacuums can make your home honest-to-goodness clean from the ground up, no heavy lifting. It's a low-commitment relationship.
The newest models don't weigh a monstrous 50 pounds or make the task daunting. They work fast and efficiently, like any fine housekeeper. And unlike stick vacuums or uprights, canisters are more flexible, easy to carry, work well on bare floors, carpeting and stairs and ideal if you use vacuum cleaner attachments to nab dust and dirt from upholstered furniture, blinds and lampshades.
To find the best model for every price point and floor surface, the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab has tested a wide range of vacuums over the years — HEPA vacuums, robot vacuums, vacuums for pet hair and much more. We check industry-standard ASTM International criteria and use targeted Lab equipment to assess how well each picks up dirt, debris and simulated pet hair on carpets and bare floors. We also rate suction power, allergen removal, ease of moving around furniture and other details that matter at home.
At the end of this article, you'll find more facts on how we evaluate canister vacs in our Lab and with consumer testers, which vacs in this ground crew work best for which floor surfaces and whether it's worth buying a new model.
Miele’s vacuums continually win us over in our cleaning tests for their outstanding performance and innovative design features, and this Good Housekeeping Seal star is no exception. Because the dense tufts of super soft or plush carpets often make pushing a vacuum harder, the Miele Complete C3 comes with a power nozzle that adjusts the brush roll to different levels. In our tests, we found it made plowing through plush pile carpets easier. Plus, it includes an assortment of attachments and multiple suction levels to tackle a wide range of cleaning tasks.
Many vacuums leak dust back into the air through cracks and crevices in the body, and some bagless models can be messy to empty and create a dust cloud, both of which can trigger sneezing. This Miele uses a self-sealing, high-filtration bag to capture the dust. Just throw it away once it's full. The entire vacuum is sealed to eliminate leaking and a HEPA AirClean filter on the exhaust keeps 99.99% of fine dust and allergens from being released back into the air. In our tests, Miele vacuums are the best at both picking up dust and dirt and keeping particles inside the vacuum. That's why they are our top recommendation for allergy sufferers.
Apartment dwellers and college students often don’t have space for a full-size canister vacuum, but this budget-friendly vacuum is a lightweight, compact machine with a few superpowers. We love that the Eureka Mighty Mite weighs under nine pounds, so it's light enough to tote around and small enough for neat storage.
It’s racked up a 4.4-star rating from over 13,100 reviewers on Amazon who praise it for being easy to carry up and down stairs and for its two wand attachments that offer excellent pick-up in tough-to-reach places. This model performed well in our tests, and has been in the Eureka line for many years. It’s best for quick cleanup jobs on bare floors or smooth surfaces and comes with a blower port to blow leaves or debris in the garage. It can likely pick up lint or hair on a carpet, but don't expect it to deep clean because it lacks a rotating brush.
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Nothing's more frustrating than having to stop mid-job to unplug a vacuum that can't reach all the way under the bed or behind the sofa. But this Bissell bagless canister model can get even the most distant dust bunnies. It's got a 30-foot cord, a 6.5-foot hose and a telescoping wand that together provide a 40-foot cleaning radius. Three suction speeds, a multi-floor cleaning nozzle and an extra dusting brush built onto the handle let you go from bare floors to area rugs and cushions to drapes without missing a beat.
We haven't tested this specific model yet, but Bissell upright vacuums have repeatedly done well in our tests and we have faith that this canister model will also perform nicely. We like that the large easy-to-grab and empty dust container features a spooling system so dirt falls out in one clump, keeping you from having to reach inside and get your hands dirty. We tested this system on another Bissell vacuum and found it worked well.
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Our Lab experts were wowed by this vacuum's pick-up power and high-end features, no surprise since Miele consistently aces our tests. The Boost CX1 Parquet showed no signs of pushing debris forward instead of suctioning, a common complaint with other models. This helped it win a spot in our 2022 Best Cleaning & Organizing Awards. In our tests, it pulled in dry oats with ease.
It packs a HEPA filter, cord rewind, parquet floor brush tool and extendable wand, all in a canister about the size of a small cooler. We love the large, easy-empty dust bin, and the jumbo wheels for smooth moves. The universal floor head lets you go from low carpet to hardwood floors with a flip of a switch, no changing attachments. It does not have a rotating brush for embedded dirt on deep pile carpets but the large oval parquet brush safely and thoroughly cleans in cracks and crevices on hardwood floors.
The Oreck Compact Canister weighs just 5.5 pounds (the lightest of our picks) and is more portable than the traditional canister, making it great for smaller jobs. We like that it comes with a shoulder strap and a telescoping wand for grabbing dust in hard-to-reach and high places like window frames, ceiling fans and light fixtures. The longer, 20-foot cord can reach an outlet so you can clean your car after messy spills.
While this model can't deep clean pile carpets, we tested it when it came packaged with an Oreck upright and we were impressed with its pick-up on hard floors, flat carpets and area rugs. Its bag keeps dust in and meets HEPA filtration standards. The vacuum is backed by a three-year limited warranty and can double as a blower to clean the garage, workshop or patio.
This Kenmore is as versatile as it is powerful. The Pet Friendly POP-N-GO has a mini motorized brush tool that lifts pet hair from upholstered furniture and carpets, and can be stored along with other accessories right on the vacuum. The disposable dust bag and sealed system keep in unwanted debris and the HEPA filter on the exhaust makes it smart for those with pets or allergies. Along with acing our floor-cleaning tests, our experts found the controls easy to use and that the big wheels made maneuvering a breeze. We loved that the floor brush can be quickly attached with a press of a button. Our experts were so impressed, this vacuum earned one of our 2022 Cleaning and Organizing Awards.
This is the best corded canister vac for heavy-duty dry and wet messes in your home, garage and workshop. The DeWalt is ideal indoors and out, easily picking up heavy debris and water in our tests. The attachments for hard-to-reach crevices and floors can suck up wet spills in your home, too.
With swivel wheels, a 7-foot hose and a 10-foot cord, it is impressively maneuverable in spaces of all sizes. Per the manufacturer, its two-stage motor makes this vacuum up to 50% quieter than previous models. While our GH Cleaning Lab considered it noticeably quieter than other models, our Home Improvement and Outdoor Lab pros found it a bit louder than other models they tested for a review of best shop vacuums.
In our careful tests, no stone (or carpet) is left unturned. We look at how well vacuums remove large and small debris like gritty sand, dried orzo pasta and more from flooring. We also test how well they clean along edges and how much suction they draw through the tools.
With a custom-built, automated machine that makes the same number of passes over the same test carpeting (pictured below), we objectively measure how well each vacuum removes dirt deeply embedded into a medium-pile carpet. This test is run three times with each vacuum so in our last review of 40 vacuums we did 120 runs for this test alone! We even have a separate machine to clean the carpets between test runs so one result won't influence the next.
We use industry-standard rayon fibers to simulate pet hair that we evenly spread in six separate locations on a carpet’s surface to see how well each machine cleans it up. We count the strokes needed by each vacuum to completely remove the fuzzy fibers.
We also consider how effective each vac is at trapping allergens. Both canisters and uprights clean well, but canister vacuums excel for their versatility and flexibility, thanks to the distribution of weight between the canister and powerhead. And honestly, with a bare floor brush attached, canister vacs do the best job cleaning wood, tile and other hard floors along with low pile and looped carpets and area rugs. Plus, they are easy to carry with two hands.
In addition to performance testing, we test for ease of use of each model. This includes evaluating maneuverability, design and intuitiveness of the controls and how simple it is to empty or change the bag. We also factor in the weight of each model. We assess all special features and even give the owner's manual a grade for clarity.
Because maneuverability ratings can differ from one consumer to the next, we have 10 consumer testers rate each vacuum by running them on a bare floor, carpet, around corners and under furniture. For sound measurements, we work with Quiet Mark, an independent global sound certification program, to objectively determine the loudness of each model.
In the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, vacuum cleaners are a major product review category. We constantly get new models for testing, and as a member of ASTM International's F11 Vacuum Cleaner Committee, we meet twice yearly with engineers and technical reps from all brands to help develop and shape the vacuum cleaner test standards we all use to assess performance, ease of use, durability and more. All vacuums are tested exactly the same way for more accurate comparisons.
What to look for when shopping for a canister vacuum
We can't name one universal canister vac that is perfect for everyone, but with so many on the market, it is possible to find the perfect one for you. Consider the factors below when you shop.
✔️ Bagged or bagless. Both master messes, but one big thing sets them apart. Bagged canister vacs are generally much easier to maintain. You just remove and dispose of the used dust bag and put in a new one. You will need to buy bags, and prices vary across brands, but you will not tangle with a dust cup. Bagless canister vacuums have a dust cup with filter that you need to empty and clean after each or at least every few uses. This can get messy, and the dust cloud that some emit may bother allergy sufferers.
✔️ The ground you will cover. If you’ll vacuum stairs, a lightweight canister vac or one with an extra-long hose and cord is best. For bigger homes, having a longer cord or a cordless vacuum may be better than having to connect to different outlets. Cordless canister vacuums give you more flexibility but have much shorter runtimes than corded ones. For smaller homes or apartments, cordless vacs are great because you don't need a long runtime and smaller is easier to stash and store.
✔️ Attachments. These extra accessories can make or break your buying decision. Most canister vacs come with a dusting brush, upholstery tool and a crevice attachment. A powerhead attachment is key to deep clean carpets and rugs more efficiently. If you only have bare floors or very flat rugs in your home, a universal floor head or bare floor brush will do both. But if you have medium- or deep-pile carpets, spring for the motorized powerhead with a rotating brush. Car cleaning attachments are also great.
To find a vac for small messes or one that also mops floors or cleans your car, check our guides to the best handheld vacuums, best vacuum mops and best car vacuums.
Do canister vacs have better suction than other types of vacs?
In general, corded canister vacs do have more powerful suction than battery-operated stick, canister, handheld or robot vacs. Electric energy gives them more oomph, though not necessarily any more than electric upright vacuums.
Carolyn Forté has been testing, speaking and writing about cleaning and home appliances at Good Housekeeping for more than 40 years. She has tested and reviewed hundreds of vacuum cleaners, carpet and hardwood floor cleaners, mops and many other cleaning products. As the executive director of the Home Care and Cleaning Lab, she oversees all testing and has recently tested handheld, stick, upright and canister vacuums that were submitted for consideration in the most recent Cleaning and Organizing Awards. She is an active member of the ASTM Committee on vacuum cleaners and chairman of the consumer information sub-committee.
Alice Garbarini Hurley most recently updated this article. She has written about homes, holidays, house cleaning and interior design for decades, not just for Good Housekeeping but also for Country Living, Aspire Design and Home and many other magazines.
Carolyn Forté brings more than 40 years of experience as a consumer products expert to her role as executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab. Using deep analytical testing and writing expertise in appliances, cleaning, textiles and organizational products, she produces cleaning and home care advice for GH, has authored numerous books and bookazines for the brand and partners with the American Cleaning Institute to co-produce the Discover Cleaning Summits. She holds a bachelor's degree in family and consumer sciences from Queens College, City University of New York.
Alice Garbarini Hurley has been a lifestyle and consumer writer since a pizza parlor taste test for the Dumont High School Periscope. She wrote about prom dresses and mascara at Seventeen, then about everything that matters at Good Housekeeping as a senior lifestyle writer for 10 years and as a GH freelancer for 10 more. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Coastal Living and InStyle. She has published essays and has blogged at Truth and Beauty since 2010. Writing keeps Alice calm and focused while raising a teenage girl. She loves bluebells and daffodils, Cape Cod, accessories, cream in her coffee and reading cookbooks cover to cover.
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