The best carpet cleaners for professional-looking results at home – my top picks as Ideal Home’s Floorcare Expert
I put carpet cleaners from big brands like VAX, Bissell and Shark up against felt-tip, tea and mud stains
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Most people don't appreciate the power of the best carpet cleaners and spot cleaners. Offering the chance to breathe life back into grubby rugs, carpeted stairs, and even sofas and upholstery, home carpet cleaners can help you tackle everyday dirt and deep-set stains alike anytime - rather than relying on your bi-annual professional clean.
As a result, the best carpet cleaners can refresh your carpets, remove stains, and even extend the lifespan of your floors - but only if you choose one that suits your home and needs. That's why I've whittled down my top six carpet cleaners for different homes, budgets and cleaning requirements. This is everything you need to know.
The quick list
Short on time but still want to invest in the perfect carpet cleaner or spot cleaner for your home? This is a quick run-down of my top six picks, with more information just a scroll away.
Best overall
This powerful machine includes a hot air dry-only setting to get carpets totally dry. It's an investment purchase but comes with a range of useful hand tools and automatically mixes in cleaning solution and dispenses water onto the carpet.
Best value
While this isn't the cheapest carpet cleaner you can buy, you get a lot of cleaning power for the still-affordable price. It delivers professional-looking results at home and comes with an additional tool to tackle smaller stains and upholstery.
Best for deep cleans
A quite unique product, this machine has a steam-only mode that's useful for stain pre-treatment. The Quick Dry mode means it uses less water and carpets get drier faster, and there are 3-in-1, different-sized brushes for cleaning stairs with ease.
Best for pets
Tired rugs? Pet stains on carpets? Pen marks on your sofa? This carpet cleaner is ideal for homes with pets or families, as it offers a large water tank and even a pet-friendly cleaning solution to tackle everything from dried-on stains to everyday dirt and debris. It also comes with a host of accessories for more targeted cleaning.
Best cordless
This cordless carpet cleaner is the first of its kind, offering up to 35 minutes of cord-free run time for cleaning convenience. It's also compact and lightweight, and perfect for refreshing your rugs and carpets from fresh dirt and stains. It also has a Dry-Only mode to speed up the drying process.
Best for spot cleans
Perfect for grab-and-go cleaning, the added steam power within this spot cleaner makes tackling stubborn stains easier than ever. The long power cord and lightweight design make it easy to carry around the house, and the attachments allow for use across multiple surfaces.
Best carpet cleaners
Best carpet cleaner overall
VAX appliances are reliably good and the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design ticks a lot of boxes, making it worthy of the top spot. It’s a powerful carpet cleaner that includes a hot air dry-only setting to remove as much moisture as possible from carpets.
Capable of removing deep dirt, it automatically mixes in the cleaning solution. What’s more, there’s no trigger to dispense water onto the carpet; it automatically wets the carpet on the forward push and sucks up the dirty water as you pull it back.
The downside is that it’s bulky, so it takes up a fair chunk of storage space. It also felt heavy to push around, but it isn't too much of an issue if you focus on one room at a time. We also would've preferred an easy way of knowing when the dirty water tank needs emptying, or fresh water needs to be added, so it wasn't such a start-and-stop process.
During testing, our reviewer found that the useful hand tools worked well on stairs and upholstery, and the spin scrub tool is a great option for pet beds. Granted, this is an investment-level carpet cleaner, but it’s a reliable and easy-to-use all-rounder, so you’ll get your money’s worth.
Read our VAX Platinum SmartWash carpet washer review for more details.
The best value carpet cleaner
The Rug Doctor Deep Carpet Cleaner isn't the cheapest model we've tested, but at £319 it's still more affordable than other options out there - especially when you take into account the impressive cleaning power.
After all, Rug Doctor is typically known for its hired and professional carpet cleaning, so it should come as no surprise to learn that this at-home cleaner offers similar results. Our tester, Rebecca, was amazed by the colour of the water after cleaning her carpets and upholstery, and could visibly see that the machine had lifted deep-set dirt.
Easy to set up and use thanks to its simple controls, it also comes with an upholstery tool for more detailed cleaning jobs and stain removal, and Rebecca found that it took just four hours for her carpets to dry after cleaning on normal mode. There is the option to up the ante even further and use Super Boost mode for more stubborn, high-traffic areas.
However, impressive suction and cleaning power do come at a cost - and at a weight. In fact, the Rug Doctor carpet cleaner weighs almost 15kg, which is significantly heavier than any other carpet cleaner we've tested. This means it could be unsuitable for those who struggle with their mobility - or those who have limited storage space. The handle does fold to make that easier, though.
Read our full Rug Doctor Deep Carpet Cleaner review for more details
The best carpet cleaner for deep cleans
As the only carpet cleaner to incorporate steam cleaning, the BISSELL Revolution Hydrosteam is quite unique. The steam-only mode is designed for use as a stain pre-treatment, rather than a full clean. But steam is also dispensed as part of the main SteamWash Max Clean mode for a thorough deep clean.
Water is released manually via a trigger, but suction is always on, so it’s continually pulling liquid back out of the carpet. For lighter cleans, the Quick Dry mode uses less water, and my carpets were dry within 3-4 hours using this mode.
The 3-in-1 stair cleaning tool rotates to give three different-sized brushes, including the main flat brush, as well as a curved part to help with cleaning the carpet where it rolls over the step. And there’s a small angle so you can get right into the corners. In our opinion, it’s the most thorough stair-cleaning tool of all the models on this list.
One of our main gripes with it is that the floorhead brushes continue to rotate when using the hand tool. This was a pain when sitting on hard floors while cleaning upholstered chairs. Nevertheless, the hand tool did a good job of cleaning a grubby dining chair, though, like most others, the upholstery is left more saturated than the carpet.
The best carpet cleaner for pets
If your family home is in need of a refresh thanks to your kids and pets, this Bissell model is a game-changer. Our tester and Senior Digital Editor, Jenny, loved how she could get cleaning straight out of the box and found the Express Clean function to be ideal as a busy mum of two kids and a cat.
Offering a wet or dry function, you can use the dry function almost like a vacuum before using the wet function to give carpets, rugs and upholstery a deep clean. And Jenny found the spot cleaner to be perfect for dried-on pen, wine, chocolate and even unidentified stains!
A bonus with this particular model is that it also comes with a fair few attachments, including one for the stairs, another for upholstery and one specifically for pets, meaning every potential stain or area of the home is covered.
One thing to note is that this carpet cleaner is on the larger side of the spectrum, so you'll want to make sure that you have sufficient space to store it before purchasing.
Read our full Bissell Proheat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner review for full details.
The best cordless carpet cleaner
VAX filled a major gap in the market when they released the UK's first-ever cordless carpet cleaner, and our tester found it to be a lightweight alternative to bigger, bulkier models. After all, some of the other carpet cleaners on this list weigh up to 10kg compared to the ONEPWR's 6.1kg.
The cord-free aspect also made it easy to manoeuvre around the house for quick refreshes, as well as storing after use. Plus, the Wash-Dry mode requires minimal effort as you can clean your carpets on the front stroke and start the drying process on the back stroke.
While deeper, more embedded stains required a bit more effort to remove, our tester also found it ideal for quick refreshes of carpets and rugs. So, it would definitely suit those who prefer a little-and-often carpet cleaning regime - rather than one big, intense clean once a year.
Of course, the elephant in the room is that without a constant power supply, you are limited to just 35 minutes of run time. This may be an issue for some, especially as you'll have to wait 5.5 hours for the battery to recharge. However, our tester found it more than enough in her family home, and you can buy spare batteries if required.
Read our full VAX ONEPWR Cordless Compact Carpet Cleaner review for more details
The best carpet cleaner for spot cleaning
If you don't have space for a full-size carpet cleaner in your home, the carpet cleaner vs spot cleaner debate is worth considering - especially when the Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam exists. After all, this spot cleaner also uses the power of steam to tackle everything from carpet and rug stains to your dirty curtains.
It's this versatility that really won over our tester, Rebecca, a busy mum of three who tackles stains daily. Naturally, she used it to clean spots and stains on her carpets and sofa, but the added accessories and tools meant that she could also use its cleaning power to refresh her baby's car seat, her daughter's trainers, and even the tiles in her kitchen.
As it's considerably smaller than all the full-size carpet cleaners on this list, it's also incredibly easy to move around the house and store when not in use. And while Rebecca found that the cleaning hose could have been a little longer, the power cord is plenty long enough to add that reach.
Of course, you can't use a spot cleaner like this to clean your whole carpet (unless you have a lot of time on your hands), but it's perfect for those in-between refreshes and concentrated stain removal when you don't have a full-size carpet cleaner available.
Read our full Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam review for more details.
Carpet cleaner comparison at glance
Model | Price | Weight | Tools included | Ideal Home Rating | Brand Trustpilot Rating |
VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design Carpet Washer | £349.99 | 8.9kg | Anti-microbial tool, SpinScrub tool, accessory bag, antibacterial solution, pet stain & odour remover | 5 stars | 4.7 stars |
Rug Doctor Deep Carpet Cleaner | £319 | 14.25kg | Upholstery tool, removable tool caddy, trial-size solution, user guide | 4.5 stars | 4 stars |
BISSELL Revolution HydroSteam Carpet Cleaner | £429.99 | 10.2kg | Tough stain tool, 3-in-1 tool, Wash & Protect Pro, natural Deep Carpet cleaning solution | 4.5 stars | 4.3 stars |
VAX ONEPWR Cordless Compact Carpet Cleaner | £399.99 | 6.1kg | Antibacterial solution, pre-treatment solution | 4 stars | 4.7 stars |
Bissell Proheat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner | £299.99 | 7.94kg | 2-in-1 Pet Upholstery Tool, Tough stain tool, Spray crevice tool, Crevice tool, Deep Clean Pet formula starter bottle | 4.5 stars | 4.3 stars |
Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam | £299 | 5.9kg | 2 x tough stain brush tools, multi-surface tool, HydroRinse tool | 4.5 stars | 4.3 stars |
We've also tested
How we test carpet cleaners
As Ideal Home's Cleaning and Floorcare Editor, I've tested multiple carpet cleaners and spot cleaners over the years - and I've also brought in a team of talented freelance appliance testers to help me follow our carpet cleaner testing protocol, too.
Dozens of carpet cleaners and spot cleaners have been tested as part of this process, and we make sure to test all of them in real homes for at least two weeks, assessing everything from the setup to the carpet cleaner's performance and the cleaning and maintenance required.
Every carpet cleaner is then given a star rating out of 5, with only those rated 4 stars and above entitled to the coveted 'Ideal Home Approved' badge.
To compile this guide, I then dissected all of these reviews to determine how they compare against each other, whether they're worth their value for money, and who - and what homes - they'd ultimately suit. These six came out on top.
Lauren is Ideal Home's Content Editor, Floorcare Expert and Certified Expert for Vacuums, and she has compiled this guide of the best carpet cleaners to help homeowners and renters keep their carpets and rugs as stain-free as possible.
As well as testing many of these models out for herself, she has also used her expertise to compare reviews from our designated testers to choose which of the many carpet cleaners we've tested will make it into the top six.
Jenny is Senior Digital Editor at Ideal Home, and has been testing appliances for us since 2023.
She lives in Belfast with her husband and two daughters. She tested the Bissell ProHeat in her family home, using it on all manner of stains and dirt, including felt-tip and chocolate stains!
Helen is a freelance contributor who trained as a Home Economist. After starting her career in the food industry, she moved into home appliance reviews, testing everything from air fryers to vacuum cleaners and the best carpet cleaners in the UK for various publications.
Helen tested a couple of the carpet cleaners in this guide in her beautiful Berkshire home, and she tested many of them at the same time so she could accurately compare them against each other.
Rebecca is another one of Ideal Home's trusted freelance reviewers. As a busy mum of three, she's constantly on the lookout for cleaning appliances that'll tackle the scuffs and stains her kids leave behind.
For this guide, she tested VAX's Cordless, the Bissell Spot Cleaner and the Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaner after previously paying a professional to clean her carpets once a year.
FAQs
How can I choose the best carpet cleaner?
There are a few important things to consider when choosing the best carpet cleaner for you, but asking yourself the questions below should help you choose the most suitable option.
- What you want to use it for: if you only want to wash flat carpets, you won’t need one that comes with a range of hand tools. But, if you’d like the option to clean things like upholstery, and pet beds, or if you have carpeted stairs or want to remove carpet stains, you'll find a selection of hand tools essential.
- The capacity: if you don’t have a huge amount of carpet, you probably won’t mind if the carpet cleaner doesn’t have big tanks for clean and dirty water. But the larger the tank, the longer you can clean uninterrupted, so for bigger houses with lots of carpet, you’ll need good-sized clean and dirty water tanks.
- Cleaning solution: think about are whether you want the cleaner to mix in the cleaning solution for you, or if you’d prefer to measure it out yourself.
- Speed of drying: if it’s important that your carpets dry fast, look out for a model with a warm air drying mode or alternatively, a quick dry cleaning mode that uses less water for faster drying.
- Price: Carpet cleaners can be expensive, but there are some affordable ones on the market. So, it's best to set out a budget before buying one - or you may want to consider whether it's worth buying or renting a carpet cleaner.
How can I most effectively use my carpet cleaner?
Nailing how to clean carpets can feel like a monumental job, especially if you're renovating a property that has seen better days. So how can you make sure you get the most from your new carpet cleaning investment?
Your first step is to remove as much of the furniture from the room as possible, so you can access the carpet easily - especially those corners that are typically covered by sofas and storage.
Then, give your carpets a once-over with your vacuum before grabbing your carpet cleaner and starting to clean from the furthest side of the room towards you, so you don't have to step on wet carpets to get the job done.
It's also important to use parallel strokes with this appliance, overlapping slightly to prevent unwanted marks or streaks. When you're done, make sure you wait for the carpets to dry fully before
For reviving the most-trodden surfaces in your home, a carpet cleaner might just be the miracle product you're looking for. I'm confident that they're just the thing to turn your carpets around.