I tested the best carpet cleaners in my own home — these are my top picks for cleaning carpets, rugs and sofas

The best carpet cleaner can be a gamechanger for your home, not just for your carpets. Offering the chance to breathe life back into grubby rugs, carpeted stairs, and even sofas and upholstery, home carpet cleaners can tackle everyday dirt and deep-set stains in no time.

Of course, the best vacuums excel in removing larger debris from your carpets and the best steam cleaners sanitise carpet germs with their high temperatures, but a carpet cleaner offers a different kind of carpet cleaning. As well as tackling surface spills and stains, it will also clean deep into the fibres to help with allergies, the removal and prevention of dust mites, and ultimately extend the life of your carpets.

And thanks to hands-on experience with the best carpet cleaners out there, I've been able to whittle down my options to the best 6 on their ability to tackle everyday dirt and tougher stains on multiple surfaces, their water capacity, any accessories included, noise levels, and the drying time in hours. One model that stood out from the rest was the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design Carpet Washer, but here's how it compares to everything else I've tested.

The quick list

Best carpet cleaners

Best carpet cleaner overall

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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 me to push around, but it wasn't too much of an issue if just focused on one room at a time. I also would've preferred an easy way of knowing when the dirty water tank needs emptying, or fresh water needed adding so I didn't have to stop and start as much. Not to mention, it has a slightly higher price tag. Therefore, if you can't quite stretch to this, the VAX Rapid Power is a more affordable alternative.

During testing, I found that the useful hand tools work 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 budget carpet cleaner

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The VAX Rapid Power Revive is a good carpet and upholstery cleaner at a great price. It washes carpets thoroughly, although it doesn’t leave them as dry as the VAX Platinum SmartWash above. But, if you want carpets to dry fast, the quick clean mode gives a lighter clean and leaves much less water in the carpets so they dry faster - perfect for a speedy spruce up.

It was heavy to push around and the position of the water tank blocked my view of the front of the floorhead. So not only can it be hard to navigate in tight spaces, but I couldn't see how much water is being sucked up through the nozzle while using it. It also can’t reach under furniture, so I had to clear the room for the best clean.

The hand tool is a great size for tackling carpets on stairs. It left my dining chair quite saturated even after going over several times to suck out all the water. That said, once dry, the cream upholstery was much cleaner and vastly improved. The small crevice tool is useful for getting into awkward areas that the hand tool is too big for.

To dispense water you have to keep the trigger pressed, then when you let go, it sucks up and dries the carpet. The handy rinse-only mode means even if the cleaning solution tank is still full, it’ll just use plain water.

The best carpet cleaner and steamer in one

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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.

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 size 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 my opinion, it’s the most thorough stair-cleaning tool of all the models on this list.

One of my 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, upholstery is left more saturated than carpet. The other downside was that I did find this quite heavy to manoeuvre.

Best carpet cleaner for everyday use

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The best feature of the Shark CarpetXpert is that unlike many of the others on this list, the hose for handheld cleaning is always attached and ready to go. Simply flipping a lever at the base, stops the roller brush and engages the handheld tools. Making this a great choice to have at hand if you regularly need to do spot cleans in addition to full carpet cleans. I actually preferred it for these as the dirty water tank was quite small compared to the others, so needed emptying fairly often when cleaning a larger room.

Like the VAX Platinum, it releases water on the forward push and sucks it up as you pull it back, so there’s no trigger on the handle. Plus there’s a dry-only mode, where it’ll only suck up water from the carpet, allowing you to go over the whole carpet to remove as much water as possible. Although it still left my carpets a little damper than some of the other, higher-scoring cleaners on this list. That said, they were far from saturated and still dried by the next day.

The wide hand tool makes short work of stairs and the smaller one made for a great size for my upholstered armchair. To get into nooks and crannies it can be used with no tool attached. And if you have an accident-prone pet, the game-changing Pet Stain Trapping tool allows you to suck up the liquid. The clever part is that it stays contained in a small tank in the tool, so I didn't have to clean smelly residues out of the whole carpet cleaner afterwards.

Best carpet cleaner for spot cleaning

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If you have a smaller home or prefer a more targeted clean, a spot cleaner can be a great alternative - or even an impressive addition - to a full-size carpet cleaner. And the cherry on top of this cake is the fact that the VAX Spotwash Home Cordless is just that... it's cordless.

Offering 25 minutes of run-time, this model won't have the power or the time to clean large areas of carpet, but it's perfect for cleaning sofas, rugs, mattresses, car seats and mats, and smaller areas of carpet. And during testing, our reviewer used this to clean up everything from everyday pet messes to deep-set Calpol stains on a rug in her daughter's bedroom.

To use, all you have to do is choose your attachment and press the trigger on the handle to spray the spot cleaning solution onto the desired area before scrubbing away. Then, simply press down with the vacuum-like attachment to suck up the excess water.

The only niggles our tester had was that it was quite loud (as loud as her corded vacuum cleaner) and was quite weighty at 4.5kg when you have to carry it around the house. So, if you're less mobile, the maneuvorability of a carpet cleaner with a spot washer attached - like the Shark CarpetXpert - will suit you better.

Read our full VAX Spotwash Home Cordless review for more details.

The best multi-purpose carpet cleaner

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If you want a carpet cleaner that can also see you through plumbing leaks and water spillages, as well as freshening carpets and upholstery, good old Henry is the one for you. Plus, it’s the second most affordable carpet cleaner on this list.

Henry Wash is a no-nonsense industrial-style carpet cleaner, what’s more, it’s the only model on this list that can also be used to wash hard floors. And it’ll be invaluable if you ever have a big spill or leak, you can simply use the hose to suck up all the liquid - I actually experienced the joys of this when a radiator in my home started leaking.

It’s great for giving carpets a quick refresh. But because it spays the water on and sucks it away again without agitating or brushing the carpet, it won’t deliver a deep clean. Likewise for upholstery, the handheld tool doesn’t have a brush built in, so it works best for a light spruce-up.

For hard floor cleaning it sprays out water, you can then scrub the floor with one side of the tool, before flipping it over and using the squeegee part to collect the water. It’s a bit more industrial than an electric mop and I found that floors can become quite wet if you’re not careful, but it certainly removed a lot of dirt from my slate kitchen floor.

One downside is that the dirty water tank is the whole body of Henry, so it was a little awkward and cumbersome to empty out the dirty water and clean it afterwards. The plus side is that this means it has a large capacity and didn't need emptying too often.

Carpet cleaner comparison at glance

How we test carpet cleaners

In accordance with how we test products that we recommend at Ideal Home, each of the carpet cleaners in this guide were tested thoroughly and in real homes and by exprienced reviewers who assessed every step of the delivery, assembly and ease of use. Every Ideal Home reviewer also follows this strict testing schedule, so you can be sure that every home carpet cleaner in this guide has been tested to the same exacting standard.

When testing them myself, I first assessed how large the boxes of the best carpet cleaners were upon delivery, making note of whether I was able to carry them over the threshold of my home on my own or whether I needed assistantance. As we care about the planet, I also inspected the packaging to see whether it could be recycled or whether any components were encased in plastic.

Then, I timed the assembly process, as most of the carpet and upholstery cleaners in the UK contain many different components that can take a while to put together. This also included the time it took to fill up the clean water tank and add the cleaning solution.

To assess the general cleaning power of the carpet cleaner, I tested them on a wide range of surfaces, including carpets, carpeted stairs, rugs, sofas, upholstery, and sometimes even cars for cordless spot cleaner models.

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During this stage, I also measured the force required to push the cleaner, whether it offers carpet cleaning and spot cleaning capabilities, how easy it was to use, and the drying time in hours after use. After all, the main difference between vacuums and carpet cleaners is that carpet cleaners tend to leave your carpets damp after use. So, knowing what to expect can help the buying process.

To assess the stain removal power of these carpet cleaners, I tried to use deep-set stains on carpets, rugs, and sofas that already existed in my home. If this isn't possible for other reviewers, we ask our them to create their own stains using mud, coffee, or wine (on carpet samples, ideally).

During this process, I always outlined the percentage of stain removal and the quality of the carpet, rug, or surface after using the stain removal tools or specific cleaners included.

Generally, carpet cleaners will perform differently on different types and ages of carpet, as well as different types and ages of stains. However I was able to compare the end results, as well as the water capacity, various cleaning modes, and affordability to then score the home carpet cleaner out of 5 accordingly.

Helen McCue

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 the majority 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 acccurately compare them against each other. After testing, she either returned the samples to the manufacturer or donated them to charity.

Annie Collyer

Annie is the former deputy ecommerce editor and is now a regular freelance contributor for Ideal Home.

A keen reviewer of home appliances, she has tested everything from air purifiers to coffee machines and carpet cleaners in her three-bedroom home that she shares with her husband, daughter, and pug, Doug. In this guide, Annie tested the VAX Spotwash Home Cordless carpet cleaner.

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.

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?

Sarah Dempsey, a cleaning expert from MyJobQuote.co.uk, has essential tips to get the most out of your cleaner, with the first being to 'clean out as many pieces of furniture as you can from the room, giving you access to as much carpet as possible'.

Then, Sarah advises 'vacuuming the carpet thoroughly, ensuring you get right up to the skirting board', and notes that it's important when you're done that you make sure your carpet has dried properly before you move any furniture back in.

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.