These Carpet Cleaning Machines Make Deep-Cleaning Your Home Super Satisfying

A home swathed in carpets needs more than just a weekly run-through with a vacuum cleaner. At least once a season, you should be giving your home the deep clean it needs by using a carpet cleaner to get out embedded dirt, fresh messes, and old spots that can't be remedied with a stain remover.

Virtually any household can benefit from having a carpet-cleaning machine readily available to refresh carpets, rugs, and sofa covers. Plus, you'll never have to settle for renting a tank-sized carpet cleaner again when you have one of your very own.

The Best Carpet Cleaner Machines

How Do Carpet Cleaner Machines Work?

Generally, carpet cleaner machines work by moistening the area with water and cleaning solution, scrubbing it into the material with their internal brush system, and then sucking it all up. This leaves carpets and upholstery significantly cleaner but not bone-dry. You'll want to avoid the washed area for a few hours (or overnight) to ensure that it dries completely.

Once you've finished using the machine, make sure to empty its internal tanks and clean any brush heads or attachments used to prevent grimy buildup.

What to Consider

Size

One of the most important features to consider is the carpet cleaner's size. If you have a large home with lots of carpeting, getting an upright model is a smart move, assuming that you have the closet space to store a vacuum-sized device! Small apartments are probably better off with a portable spot-cleaner that's roughly a foot tall — unless your place has lots of carpeting and messy pets that rule the roost.

Weight

If you have multiple levels in your home and a lot of carpeting to clean, keep an eye on this spec. Most upright carpet-cleaning machines are equipped with wheels, but not all portable cleaners have this feature. In this guide, we've listed the weight of all of our chosen picks when empty, but keep in mind that they'll be heavier when filled with water.

Attachments

Devices that come with special features like heating technology, hose attachments, and crevice-cleaning brushes may also be a factor in your decision. The more attachments, the more versatile a device is, though you'll need to make sure all parts are cleaned and stored properly after use.

How We Chose

To put together this guide, we researched the best carpet-cleaning machines based on our criteria above, also keeping reviewer satisfaction and price at the top of mind. Any products that users said were prone to leaking (even after troubleshooting) or malfunctioning automatically got the boot from our list.

Additionally, two of our editors had the opportunity to test two of these carpet-cleaning machines in their own homes for several weeks at a time. They reported back on how well their machines removed deep-set and fresh carpet stains, as well as the general ease of use. Their full reviews of their machines are linked below.

These five top-rated carpet cleaners might work in similar ways, but they all offer unique benefits. Read on to learn more — you may be surprised by how satisfying it is to deep-clean your own carpets, car seats, and couch upholstery on the regular.