Nowadays, the best Shark vacuums have quickly become as highly esteemed as some of the most coveted Dyson models on the market. They offer suction power, ease of use, and premium innovative features at what is often a more affordable price point, making them standout appliances worthy of a space in your cleaning roster.
There's a reason that Shark vacuum cleaners have earned stellar spots in our guide to the best vacuum cleaners overall. Design perks such as the DuoClean brush head, which toggles between carpet and hard floors with the touch of a button, and Flexology, which easily pivots to reach under furniture, will make an instant difference in your cleaning routine. While the price can vary massively, we're big fans of the quality and innovation you'll get with a Shark vacuum.
However, as with deliberating any investment, choosing the best Shark vacuum for your space can be tricky due to the sheer number of models out there. That's why we've created this list to help you narrow things down. Our team of expert reviewers have put many of the top Shark vacuum picks through their paces, including upright and cordless models, to help you decide.
Below, you can find links to the specific Shark vacuum reviews for models we've tried and tested so that you can read more before you make your final decision.
Quick list
Short on time but looking for the best Shark vacuum around? Take a look at our quick list below to find the one you're looking for quickly.
Best overall
Though it's a couple of years since it was released, this is our favourite Shark overall thanks to its effective hair pick-up, easy-to-store design and excellent pricing. Often available for under £200, it's unbeatably good value for the suction and performance that you get. There are no specialised pet attachments included though, so for those you'll need our fave pet option on this list.
Best cordless
The Stratos is incredibly good at picking up hair and debris, with the CleanSenseIQ feature to help with managing high-traffic areas, with the vacuum auto-adjusting the suction in problem spots. If you opt for the 2 battery version then you'll never have to worry about running out of charge either - though we do wish there was a stand to keep all of the attachments tidy with this one.
Best for pet hair
If you need a plug-in vac that excels with pet hair pickup, then the DuoClean will impress you time and time again, boasting features that make dealing with the shedding of your furry friends much easier, too. It's got a family-home-friendly capacity and an ergonomic design.
Best upright
This vacuum has the power of a corded vacuum whilst holding onto the convenience of being cordless. It's great for pet hair and has a LiftAway feature for tackling stairs. The long battery life is another plus. Its chief downside is that it's a bit hefty, and therefore more difficult to store.
Best affordable
Another large capacity option if you need a reliable corded vac is this cylinder model which is often found on sale for a great price (we're talking around £100 or less). It also has a DuoClean brushroll head, and it's easy to move around despite the fact that the cord is obviously restricting.
Best new
Released last year, this is the newest Shark vac you can buy currently. We loved the stylish revamp and the fact that you can buy a self-emptying stand to go with it. It's capable of cleaning thoroughly across carpets and hard floors, though the small dust tank means it won't be appropriate for every size of home.
Load 1 more product ↓
Best handheld
This is the Shark you need for your kitchen worktops. Grab it when you need to pick up crumbs or do smaller jobs and enjoy the one-touch bin emptying and the neat charging dock. Quiet and sleek, we only wish it had a longer battery life and wasn't quite so expensive.
Best Shark vacuum 2024
Why you can trust Ideal Home Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Best Shark vacuum overall
The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins & Flexology is one of Shark's trademark exports, and boy did it wow us when we took it for a spin. Firstly, it feels incredibly sturdy and well-made, with a separate charger for up to two batteries at a time, meaning you can double your runtime for larger homes.
Switching between carpet and hard floors is very easy thanks to the DuoClean brushrolls, which switch over with the touch of a button. It's also possible to go between three power levels, although we found the lowest level perfectly strong enough for the majority of tasks.
At under 5kg it's a sturdy but not too hefty model, and if you struggle with storage, you'll enjoy the fact that the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins & Flexology hinges forwards to fold when stored. It does have a smart touchpad at the top of the vacuum that shows the battery level very clearly, too.
Features we loved during testing
The newer feature that Shark added to the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins & Flexology is its PowerFins tech. These are essentially flexible silicone paddles that dig deep into carpets and effectively pick up dirt from right down at the base of rugs and carpets. This was immensely successful at picking up pet hair and dust that we didn't even know was there during our tests. Opt for the Shark IZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner for a double-battery model, or the regular Shark IZ300UK if you're happy with just one battery.
Our Shark IZ300UK Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick vacuum cleaner review has the full details.
Best cordless Shark vacuum
The Shark Stratos goes further than other vacuums from the brand to make debris and dust pick-up as easy, and nice-smelling as possible. It showed unbelievable suction power during testing, and left carpets visibly cleaner, with no issues with pet hair or human hair.
There's no doubt that our testing process proved that this vacuum is worth the large price tag that it carries. Even if you don't have pets, the ease with which this vacuum does away with hair is astounding, and our Ecommerce Editor Molly found that it was unmatched when it came to suction.
Features we loved during testing
The capacity of this vacuum to transform into a smaller handheld model is phenomenal, and you'll be reaching for the smaller attachments all the time to quickly resolve smaller messes all over your home. Another highlight is the new anti-odour capsules that you can pick up with this vacuum, which make that horrible dusty smell a thing of the past.
You can fork out more for the two-battery Shark Stratos model if you think you need a spare pack on charge while the other is in use, but it's not a necessity if you live in a small or medium-sized home. All in all, this is admittedly a pricier vacuum, but if you can afford to fork out, it will impress you time and time again. We just wish it had a stand to make storing all of the elements easier, and to keep small spaces tidier.
Our Shark Stratos IZ420UKT cordless vacuum review has the full details.
Best Shark vacuum for pet hair
For those of us who find comfort in being plugged into the mains as we vacuum our homes, our reviewer Jen has established that this Shark vacuum could well be the best option for you. It's a good combination of where a stick vacuum meets an 8-metre-length cord which ultimately means no charging, whilst still being lightweight.
Features we loved during testing
During testing, Jen found that this vacuum was well equipped to deal with daily cleaning issues, with a versatile robust design that saw her through various challenges. The enhanced swivel steering came in handy across Jen's entire home, and the debris pickup across the board was good. The huge 1.1-litre dust cup was also great for a whole house clean, meaning Jen didn't have to backtrack at any point to empty the bin.
She also loved the portable vacuum cleaner element that is accessible with just the push of a button. This is thanks to Powered Lift-Away which is super handy for using the suite of attachments to refresh upholstery or vacuum skirting boards.
One of the attachments which comes with this Shark vacuum is the pet tool. As with many of the best vacuum cleaners for pet hair, it was excellent at drawing out embedded hair from rugs, blankets and anywhere else your four-legged friend likes to reside. Overall, this is a strong contender for those looking for a large-capacity Shark vacuum that they can rely on.
Our Shark DuoClean Upright Pet vacuum NV702UKT review has the full details.
Best upright Shark vacuum
The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Upright Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins, Powered Lift-Away & TruePet has everything you need (as you might've guessed from the name) to stay on top of the busiest of homes, in a cordless model.
Shark claims that it has all the power of a corded vacuum cleaner but in cordless form, and after testing we couldn't agree more. In fact, we'd even dub it the best Shark vacuum for carpet overall. It's got DuoClean which makes switching modes immensely straightforward, and the controls make it easy to see how much battery you have left. To charge, simply lift out the battery on the side of the dust tank and pop it into its charging port.
Features we loved during testing
The vacuum has lights that illuminate its path, and it left a visible path of clean carpet when we took it through the floor around the bed of a fluffy black labrador. Very impressive, so prepare to remember what colour your carpet was when you moved in.
At over 6kg the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Upright Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins, Powered Lift-Away & TruePet is quite heavy, but it does have the Powered Lift-Away to make it easier to tackle stairs and upholstery. Another minor gripe during the testing period was the small dust tank, which fills up very quickly when you're dealing with pet hair. We can confirm the battery life does extend to around one hour though, so this Shark cordless can tackle your entire home in one go.
Our Shark ICZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Upright vacuum cleaner review has the full details.
Best affordable Shark vacuum
If you want to complete a deep clean in your home without having to empty your vacuum, then the Shark DuoClean & Anti Hair Wrap Bagless Cylinder Pet Vacuum CZ500UKT will be a brilliant choice for you. Don't let its RRP fool you, as it's often on sale for a fantastic discount, offering great value for money if you're on a budget but don't want to scrimp on power. Its large capacity, easy-to-use controls and excellent suction power on carpets shone through our review process, which was completed by our Kitchen Appliances Editor, Molly.
Although it is a corded vacuum, the 9-metre-long cable will give you an adequate radius to work your way around the various floors in the home. Molly lives in a two-bedroom flat and never found the cord to be an issue, with space to get to all of the rooms she needed to.
Features we loved during testing
The Anti-Hair wrap technology in this vacuum will actively remove hair from both the rollers in the floor head so you don't need to worry about de-tangling any locks at the end of each clean. After trying it out, Molly found it to be true that she didn't need to take her scissors to this floorhead, which was a big win.
There's a suite of onboard tools which can be used with this vac too, Molly's favourite being the Anti Hair Wrap Power Tool which is great for upholstery and smaller jobs.
Best new Shark vacuum
We were very excited to test the brand-new Shark Detect Pro for a few reasons. The first is that it's unbelievably lightweight, at just 2.76kg, so your days of lugging around a heavy vacuum are behind you.
The second was the wealth of new technologies that Shark boasted about with this vacuum when we got a first glimpse of it at IFA 2023. This vacuum has four detection technologies so that cleaning your home is more thorough than ever. When we were testing, we found dealing with high-traffic areas much easier thanks the the amped up suction and the FloorDetect technology makes transitioning into different rooms across your home much easier too.
Features we loved
The RRP of £349.99 is steep, yes, but the cleaning performance of this vacuum very much impressed us during testing. You gain design points too with this new release, which is available in a swish white colour scheme and has a stripped-back LED control panel.
It performed excellently in our at-home tests, and the new detection features go a long way to improve day-to-day vacuuming sessions. I'm a huge fan of the stand system too, even though it comes at an additional price, and would be keen to try out the self-emptying bin system next, which seems like a lifesaver.
Our Shark Detect Pro Cordless vacuum cleaner IW1511UK review has the full details.
Best handheld Shark vacuum
This handheld vacuum cleaner from Shark is a must-have handy for those quick tidy-ups. It's cordless which always helps with moving around the home (and car) quickly since you're not tethered to a plug. And the (up to) 8 minutes battery life is sufficient enough for sweeping up dust, and crumbs and taming those stray hairs which seem to get anywhere and everywhere. Oh and did we mention? It's one of our top picks in our round-up of the best handheld vacuum cleaners, too.
Features we loved during testing
Our expert tester Helen loved how this vacuum empties at the touch of a button, flipping the dirt directly into the bin. She thought it made emptying quick and mess-free.
When using it to clean her car, Helen was very impressed with the overall performance, with the vac effectively removing dirt from her car. It did struggle a little more to collect hairs from the carpet, but overall the suction was strong.
Overall, we love this vacuum for its performance and how it looks, as it's pretty enough to keep out on your worktop. It's almost full marks from us on this one.
How we test Shark vacuums
We really like to get a hands-on experience with the products which we feature across Ideal Home, in line with our testing protocol. It means that we get to understand more about what you are getting for your money.
Each time we hear of a new vacuum cleaner that's been added to the brand's portfolio, or we see one with outstanding user reviews, we just have to try it out. You can read what we really thought about each model in the descriptions in this guide where you'll also see our marks out of five.
Each one with descriptions like these has been tested for a number of weeks (sometimes months) so they've been faced with some real-life challenges. In some instances, we're even fortunate enough to be able to keep the vacuum cleaners so the test is always ongoing, if you like.
Everything has been considered during our in-depth reviews. Factors such as manoeuvrability, run-time, emptying of the canister (or bag) and general controls. In any instance where we have been unable to review but couldn't miss not featuring the vacuum cleaner in this guide, we've taken into account feedback from other users who have left reviews on the website where they've bought it from.
FAQs
What is the best Shark vacuum for the money?
Among the ones we've tested, we think the best Shark vacuum overall is the Shark IZ300UK Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner. While it's not the most recent model, it has proven reliable through rigorous testing and its suction power, compact design, and fairly affordable pricing make it, in our opinion, the best-value Shark vacuum out there.
When is the best time to buy a Shark vacuum cleaner?
It's possible to find pretty good deals on Shark vacuums year-round over on our cordless vacuum deals page, but there is one time of the year that's undoubtedly better than any other to take the plunge on this brand. Yep, we're talking about Black Friday deals, which start cropping up in November.
In previous years we've seen discounts of up to 50% on Shark vacuums, meaning that this pre-Christmas rush is most definitely the time to shop for essentials for your home, including vacuums. If you miss out on Black Friday, then there's plenty of cash to be saved with Boxing Day deals too.
How can I choose the best Shark vacuum?
The first thing you'll need to decide is whether you want to opt for a cordless or corded Shark. Each type will suit different homes, and our feature on corded vs cordless Shark vacuums can answer every conundrum you might have.
Another thing specific to shopping Shark vacuums is all the lingo that the brand uses to market their vacs. To untangle some of the meanings, we've listed a few of them below but we also have a full explainer on the extensive list of Shark terms if you want to learn more.
Are Shark vacuums better than Dyson?
Shark's value for money, with RRPs often near to half of what Dyson's vacuums are, means that there is constantly a comparison raised between the brands. Our explainer on Shark vs Dyson has the full lowdown on the technical differences, but we think that if you're looking for a budget vacuum, you can't go wrong with investing in a Shark.
After reading through our guide, we hope that we've helped clear the mist surrounding choosing the best Shark vacuum for your needs.
Although there are so many to choose from – which at times can get overwhelming – gaining a better understanding of their specific functions and respective strengths is a step in the right direction to securing an investment that'll last you years to come.
-
How to keep spiders off garden furniture - 5 ways to keep these creepy crawlies (and their cobwebs) at baySorry, spiders, but you weren’t invited…
-
Dry iron vs steam iron - which should you buy?We weigh up the key differences between dry and steam irons, so you can decide which your laundry pile needs
-
7 plants that repel pests - from aphids to mosquitos this is how to naturally deter them from your gardenStop unwanted garden visitors in their tracks – with plants! Yes, really!
