These Canister Vacuums Make Cleaning the Stairs a Simple Chore

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While upright vacuums tend to be the more popular choice, there are a few reasons you may want to consider a canister vacuum for your home. This style of vacuum tends to be easier to maneuver, as the main body rolls around on its own, and they’re often more effective for cleaning hard floors.

Because the hose is longer than a typical vacuum, you can use canister vacuums to clean dust out of corners of your ceiling, too. Plus, canister vacuums often use disposable bags, helping to trap allergens and dust—a major selling point for allergy sufferers.

If you’re shopping for a new vacuum for your home, the best canister vacuums offer powerful suction and impressive versatility. The following are several of the best models for every budget, as well as the key considerations to keep in mind as you shop.

For more cleaning tools, check out our picks for the best robot vacuums, best vacuums for hardwood floors, and best Dyson vacuums.

The Best Canister Vacuums

• Best Overall: Miele Classic C1 Pure Suction Canister Vacuum

• Best for Carpets: Dyson Big Ball Multi Floor Canister Vacuum

• Best Premium: Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog Canister Vacuum

• Best with Tool Kit: Kenmore 400 Series Bagged Canister Vacuum Cleaner

• Best for Pet Owners: Kenmore Elite Bagged Canister Vacuum with Pet PowerMate

What to Consider

Suction

Suction is one of the most important factors when selecting a vacuum, but it’s also one of the trickiest to figure out based on product descriptions alone. Some brands, such as Dyson, list “air watts” as a product spec—this measurement takes into account airflow and the amount of power a vacuum cleaner produces, giving you an idea of its overall suction power. For your primary vacuum, I recommend looking for a product with a rating of at least 200 air watts, as this will provide enough suction to clean all types of flooring.

Unfortunately, not all brands list air watts in their specs, which can make it hard to compare different canister vacuums. In these cases, you’ll often need to rely on customer reviews (or our reviews) to get a sense of the vacuum’s suction power. In my experience testing vacuums, Dyson, Miele, and Shark models generally tend to offer the best suction power.

Surfaces

Not all canister vacuums perform well on carpet, but some are specifically designed to handle multiple surfaces. If you have as much carpet as hard floors in your home, look for a model with a powered brushroll, which is key for pulling up dirt from rugs. It’s also beneficial if the brushroll has multiple heights, as this allows you to adjust it to match the height of your carpeting. On the other hand, a hard floor attachment is a useful tool for homes with lots of hardwood, tile, and laminate flooring.

Power Source

Most, but not all, canister vacuums require cords, and the length of them varies considerably, so keep in mind how accessible your power source is.

If you want to clean without being tethered by a power cord, a cordless vacuum might be a better fit for your home. Cordless canister vacuums aren’t as common, and the ones that do exist are often tailored to specific applications, such as cleaning up job sites. While cordless vacuums can be used anywhere, they’re not ideal for big clean-ups, as they often have a maximum runtime of around 20-30 minutes.

Pets and Allergies

Several of our models were made specifically as vacuums for pet hair and/or to combat allergens. If you have four-legged friends or people with dust allergies in your family, look out for vacuums with HEPA filters. These filters are able to capture 99.97 percent of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and other airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns, preventing them from being released back into your home. Just keep in mind that HEPA filters must be cleaned or replaced regularly to maintain their effectiveness.

Weight

The canister vacuums we selected range in weight from 8 pounds to almost 30—a sizable difference if you have a lot of ground to cover. Their weight can vary depending on the materials used, as well as the size of the motor and other internal components, and in canister models, the weight is mostly in the wheeled portion of the vacuum.

This might not be a problem if your home is only one floor, as you can pull the vacuum along behind you, but if you need to carry it upstairs or move it across thick carpeting, a heavy model can quickly become cumbersome.

Attachments

Chances are you won’t just be cleaning floors with your vacuum, and the right attachments make it easy to clean furniture, dust around your home, and even tidy up your car. Crevice tools and dusting brushes are popular tools for these jobs, and you may also want to look for a vacuum that has on-board storage for its attachments.

Many canister vacuums also come with a non-motorized head for hard floors—something you typically won’t get with upright vacuums.

How We Selected

I’ve been a professional product tester for more than eight years, and I’ve personally reviewed dozens of vacuums, including upright, handheld, stick, and robot models, as well as a few canister vacuums. Dyson and Shark are my most-recommended vacuum brands, as they typically offer powerful suction and useful features, but when it comes to canister vacuums, Miele also makes a variety of powerful models that are worth considering.

In addition to using my own experience to curate this list, I looked at factors like each vacuum’s weight, suction power (when listed), features, and accessories. I also included a mix of both bagged and bagless canister vacuums, and prioritized models that offer on-board storage for their tools, as I’ve found this makes operation easier and more convenient.

Classic C1 Pure Suction Canister Vacuum

Miele is one of the best-known canister vacuum brands, and its Classic C1 Pure Suction Vacuum is undoubtedly one of the best models you can buy today. This mid-priced model offers six suction settings that you can change based on the type of flooring that you’re cleaning. Plus, the floorhead has an easy-to-operate switch that lets you change between hard floors and carpeting with ease.

This Miele vacuum offers powerful suction and captures dust and dirt in its AirClean filter system, and while it doesn’t have a HEPA filter, it still does a great job preventing allergens from escaping back into your home. It comes with several accessories for dusting, cleaning upholstery, and more, and its motor is backed by a 7-year warranty.

Big Ball Multi Floor Canister Vacuum

As we’ve noted, canister vacuums are not generally known for their carpet-cleaning prowess. But this Dyson is specifically designed to perform well on all flooring. It weighs 17.64 pounds, features a cord length of 21 feet, and has a carbon-fiber turbine head that picks up fine dust and removes ground-in dirt.

Users also love that the vacuum “self-rights” when it begins to topple over, and many praise its efficiency over many years.

Complete C3 Cat & Dog Canister Vacuum

If you’re willing to spend top dollar for a powerful and convenient vacuum, the Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog is worth the splurge. This high-end vacuum has a convenient telescoping wand and a large, powerful floorhead, and there are six suction levels that you can select via the footswitch controls.

This vacuum comes with a hard floor attachment that rotates 180 degrees to get into tight corners, and it even has an activated charcoal filter that neutralizes odors in your home. Additionally, it includes several other accessories, such as a dusting brush, an upholstery tool, a crevice nozzle, and a mini turbo brush.

400 Series Bagged Canister Vacuum Cleaner

You’ll be able to clean virtually any surface in your home with the Kenmore 400 Series canister vacuum, which comes with a handy tool kit. In addition to its carpet floorhead, which offers four height settings for different rug thicknesses, the vacuum includes a hard floor tool, an upholstery and dusting brush, and a crevice tool. You’ll also get a clip that allows you to store all the accessories right on the wand for easy access.

This bagged canister vacuum has a HEPA filtration system to keep dust and allergens out of your home, and its telescoping wand is useful for cleaning in hard-to-reach areas. However, it may not be the best choice for pet owners, as it doesn’t include a tool for pet hair.

Elite Bagged Canister Vacuum with Pet PowerMate

This 22-pound bagged Kenmore features a 26-foot retractable cord and four versatile tools that allow you to tackle all surfaces in your home, car, and garage. This vacuum is especially good at tackling pet hair, dander, and dirt, and the Ultra Plush nozzle automatically adjusts to carpet thickness as you vacuum.

The enhanced HEPA filter also traps 99.97% of debris inside the vacuum, making it the best buy for allergy sufferers.

CZ2001 Vertex Canister Vacuum

Canister vacuums can be quite heavy—some weigh more than 20 pounds—and if you have a lot of stairs in your home, the Shark Vertex will be much easier to carry around, as it weighs less than 10 pounds. This bagless canister vacuum is perfect for pet owners, as it has a unique dual brushroll that won’t get wrapped up in hair. It includes a soft roller brush that grabs dust and dirt from hard floors, as well as a rubber brushroll that pulls debris and hair out of carpeting.

The Shark Vertex has an easy-to-use LED control panel on the handle, allowing you to switch between floor types and adjust the suction. Its wand can also be bent in the middle, making it easier to reach under furniture and store the vacuum after you’re done cleaning.

Boost CX1 PowerLine Bagless Canister Vacuum

You can save yourself some money on vacuum bags with the Miele Boost CX1, which is a bagless canister vacuum from the brand. This model has a more compact design than other canisters, and its oversized wheels minimize its risk of tipping over as you pull it around the house. You can adjust its suction power to four settings via a dial on the body, and its accessories can be clipped onto the hose for easy access while you’re cleaning.

The CX1 has a universal floorhead that works on hard floors and low-pile carpeting, but it’s not the best option if you have thick rugs in your home. A foot switch makes it easy to switch between different floor types, and the vacuum even has a telescoping wand so you can adjust it to your height.

Hard Floor Expert Canister Vacuum

Most canister vacuums clean hard floors efficiently, but this 13-pound Bissell with a bagless dirt container takes it to a new level. This canister vacuum has an air-powered rotating brush head specifically designed to extract dust and debris from grout lines and crevices in wood and laminate floors. It also features an attachment for carpets. This Bissell vacuum has an 18-foot cord.

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