Most people underestimate the power of steam, and as Ideal Home's Editor for all things cleaning, I can honestly say that my home has never been so clean after investing in a steam cleaner. That's why I'm constantly shouting about the best steam cleaners and mops.
After all, the best vacuum cleaners can remove dry debris from floors, and the best carpet cleaners can tackle staining and embedded dirt, but steam cleaning can disinfect and sanitise floors while also tackling everything from grout grime to dirty windows and tired sofas and upholstery. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it's the best multi-purpose cleaning tool out there.
But no two steam cleaners or steam mops are the same, which is why I understand how daunting it can be to buy one. That's why we spend hours testing them, assessing how their different specs and features will suit certain homes and cleaning needs, and then ranking them. As a result, I'm confident that these are the best steam cleaners and mops you can buy right now.
Quick list
Best overall
The Vax Steam Fresh Combi S86-SF-C features excellent onboard tools and convenient tool storage, making it highly practical for users. It comes with a handy triangular brush that allows for efficient cleaning in tight corners. Additionally, the option to use detergent enhances its cleaning capabilities. Even though the small fill hole can make the setup process a bit tricky, it's our top pick.
Best steam mop
Designed to steam clean your floors, this Vileda steam mop offers quick heat-up time and 28 minutes of cleaning. There are also steam settings to suit (and protect) different floor types around your home, and there's even a carpet glider to ensure your carpets are sanitised too. It is solely a steam mop and doesn't come with any attachments or handheld features, though.
Best all-rounder
If you're looking for a multi-purpose steam cleaner that can be used in both handheld and mop forms, the Kärcher SC 1 Multi & Up Extra will be a versatile addition to your cleaning routine. It's quick to heat up and extremely lightweight, and tackles everyday messes with ease. It also comes with accessories to tackle the smaller nooks and crannies of your home.
Best for upholstery
Boasting a large water tank, allowing for extended cleaning sessions without frequent refills, the Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B is impressive in its cleaning capabilities. Its design enables it to get under low-lying furniture effortlessly. However, it comes with a relatively high price tag, which might be a consideration for budget-conscious buyers.
Best handheld steam cleaner
The Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner is the perfect handheld steam cleaner for cleaning sofas, curtains, tiles, and other nooks and crannies in your home. It also comes with a whole host of accessories and attachments to steam clean everything from your windows to your mirrors. However, you can still use it as a mop if you want to.
Best for carpet
Our reviewer found the Vax Steam Fresh Total Home gave excellent cleaning results on carpets, thanks to its powerful steam. It features onboard storage and a variety of attachments and the option to use detergent can provide an extra boost for tough stains. However, the cleaner is somewhat heavy its small water tank capacity will require frequent refills.
Best steam cleaner 2025
Best steam cleaner overall
This superb upright steam mop has a triangular floorhead, two cloths, and a carpet glider, securing you value for money from the offset. You can pop the head off to reveal a medium-sized triangular brush perfect for scrubbing.
This is a traditional upright steam cleaner with a pop-out handheld in the middle for use with detail tools: squeegee with cloth cover for upholstery, concentrator, scraper and four different brushes. In a stroke of genius, there’s also onboard storage for six tools on the back of the upright, which is uncommon in cleaners like this.
This steam cleaner never let us down during testing; in fact, our tester Caramel thought it was so excellent that she found it difficult to step away from it as she envisioned other things in her home she could clean.
Caramel used it with the floorhead and carpet glider to clean the tide marks on an old, colourful rug. It worked to great effect, and she only needed to switch to the brush a few times.
In our tests, we found this cleaner was ready to use in less than 30 seconds. The steam itself is variable and powerful on the top setting. Caramel also liked the fact that it can stand up independently when you need to pause cleaning, and that you can use detergent as well as just water on tough stains. There are some drawbacks with this model, including the too-small fill hole, but on the whole, it's a great value buy.
Read our Vax Steam Fresh Combi S86-SF-C review for more details.
Best steam mop
A dedicated steam mop, the Vileda Steam Mop Plus offers everything you need to clean your floors. And you don't need to worry about damaging them, either, as this model comes with three settings to determine the power of the steam - from a low setting for delicate floors, another for tiled floors, and another for carpet.
I tested this steam mop in my home, and was impressed with its cleaning power and ease of use. It was ready to use in 15 seconds and offers up to 28 minutes of steam power, which was more than enough to clean the entire downstairs of my house.
It's also incredibly lightweight, and the swivel triangular head means it can fit into any nook, cranny or corner. And the carpet glider attachment means that you can also sanitise your carpets and rugs.
Plus, when you're done, the Vileda Steam Mop Plus stands up on its own, and you can even remove the handle for ease of storage.
The only downside with this particular model is that, apart from the glider, there are no other attachments and no pop-out handheld functionality. This means it's purely for steam cleaning floors, and won't suit those who want to steam clean other areas of the home.
Read our full Vileda Steam Mop Plus review for more details.
Best all-rounder steam cleaner
If you want a mid-range steam cleaner and mop that will tackle every single corner of your home, Kärcher has got you covered. This appliance brand is known for producing high-quality, impressive products, and this particular steam cleaner and mop performed extremely well during testing.
Our reviewer was particularly impressed with the 1.6kg weight of this compact model, making it the most lightweight model we've tested. This meant that she could take it from room to room, cleaning everything from her floors to her kitchen tiles with ease.
The one thing she did struggle with was the small water tank, which meant that she had to refill it frequently, but she found that it only took around 30 seconds for it to heat up again, so this wasn't too much of an issue. It is something to consider if you want to use it for prolonged periods of time and don't want to keep to-ing and fro-ing to the tap.
The wide variety of tools - including a mop head - means that this model can be used in various configurations, too. If you're looking to tackle deeper stains, though, it's probably best to opt for another model, like the Vax Steam Fresh Total Home, which comes with a detergent that can be used to tackle these embedded stains.
Read our full Kärcher SC 1 Multi & Up Extra review for more details
Best steam cleaner for sofa
The Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B has a large 2-litre water tank that feeds the boiler, but you can pop out the tank at any time for a refill without waiting for it to cool down or even disrupting cleaning.
The body boasts variable steam control and an anti-calc collector. It comes with a squeegee with a cloth cover for cleaning upholstery, plus a concentrator, scraper and two sizes of nylon brush. These are all great for cleaning, but might be a bit much if you're tight on storage space.
The steam cleaner also comes with a floor glider and one cleaning pad, and the floorhead is slim to fit under furniture and has a small brush on the back so you can reverse slightly to scrub stains.
In our tests, our reviewer, Caramel, found that the steam took over one minute to heat up and then could stop and start instantly with a press of the trigger. It’s powerful: the lowest setting is similar to the steam offered by most steam mops, and the highest setting is much stronger.
Caramel loved using the Polti, even if it is a bit on the pricey side. The controls are excellent, the design is practical, and it feels weightless in the hand, so much so that you can lift it to clean windows, curtains and more. Use on a tiled wall was particularly easy too, so if you hate cleaning your bathroom, this is a great cleaner to consider.
Read our Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B review for more details.
Best handheld steam cleaner
If you want a steam cleaner that can be used in many different ways around the house, our reviewer, Annie, absolutely loved the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner.
As suggested by the name, this steam cleaner has been designed as a multi-purpose steam cleaner and mop and comes with a wide array of tools and accessories. In fact, Annie steam cleaned everything from her draining board to her taps, tiles, shower tray, windows, mirrors, and sofa with ease after it heated up in just 15 seconds.
Thanks to the mop attachment, it can also easily transform from a compact handheld steam cleaner into a steam mop to clean floors, and there's a carpet glider to sanitise carpets and rugs, too.
And while Annie found the water tank of the Beldray steam cleaner sufficient for her home, she did note that the 550ml capacity might not be enough for a whole home and cleaning multiple areas at the same time.
Of course, a multi-purpose steam cleaner and mop won't clean floors as well as the dedicated Vileda Steam Mop Plus above, but it's a great alternative for those who want a great all-rounder that's not limited to one specific cleaning task.
Read our full Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner review for more details.
Best carpet steam cleaner
The Vax Steam Fresh Total Home Steam Cleaner stood out to our Senior digital editor, Jenny, as a truly versatile and efficient tool - even competing with some of the best carpet cleaners out there. Its powerful steam effectively blasted away stains, making it an excellent choice for families with children and pets. The cleaner heats up quickly and is easy to manoeuvre, equipped with attachments that can tackle everything from carpet (which it did a stellar job on) and grout to upholstery.
After a thorough cleaning of the entire house, Jenny found the powerful steam cleaned exceptionally well on all of the odd jobs she put it to work on. Its minimal setup and user-friendly design, coupled with an impressive range of onboard storage and accessories, made the cleaning process super smooth too.
One of the standout features is the steam control dial and the rapid heat-up time, which really helped the cleaning experience. The cleaner is on the heavier side, which might be a concern for some with mobility issues, but this minor drawback is definitely overshadowed by all of the genius features this steam cleaner will bring to anyone's home cleaning arsenal.
Read our Vax Steam Fresh Total Home steam cleaner review for more details.
Steam cleaner and mop comparison at a glance
Model | Price | Water capacity | Weight | Pop-out handheld? |
£149.99 | 460ml | 3.7kg | Yes | |
£74.99 | 400ml | 2.1kg | No | |
£99.99 | 200ml | 1.6kg | Yes | |
£249 | 2 litres | 5kg | No | |
£59.99 | 550ml | 2.4kg | Yes | |
£159.99 | 260ml | 4.63kg | Yes |
Best of the rest
How we test steam cleaners
At Ideal Home, we will only recommend the best steam cleaners and best steam mops that have been rigorously tested by our trusted reviewers. Every review is completely impartial, and we aim to highlight the positives and negatives that customers should consider before buying.
The process of exactly how we test involves using the products in our own homes to put them through their paces, understand their functionalities, and test all of the accessories to establish their true value for money. By using them over an extended period, we can judge whether these products are worth your investment and whether they can stand the test of time.
To compile this list of the best steam cleaners and mops, our reviewers tested dozens of models for at least two weeks (if not more), using them as naturally as possible to mimic how the average customer would use them. During the testing process, they also took time to focus on the following features and observations:
- Unboxing: How was the steam cleaner or steam mop packaged? Was the packaging eco-friendly? Was the box heavy? Asking these questions helps us understand whether this aligns with customers’ values and whether it’s easy for the average person to carry - especially if they live in a top-floor flat.
- Setting up: Knowing how long and easy it is to set up the steam cleaner or mop can make a huge difference when you’re short on time or have concerns about dexterity. So, this is something that was taken into consideration for each review.
- Ease of use: We don’t believe in paying money for products that are difficult to understand or use, so our testers focused on the steam cleaner or steam mop’s ease of use. In these cases, they also focused on cord lengths, steam cleaning different surfaces, and using all the attachments to see if they were worthwhile and effective.
- Cleaning: Steam cleaners and mops require a certain amount of cleaning and maintenance, and our reviewers outlined the cleaning process and how long it took to give customers a realistic view of the process.
- How it compares to similar models: At Ideal Home, we’re aware that the steam cleaner and steam mop market is crowded. In an effort to help you choose the right one for you, our reviewers compared each steam cleaner and mop to those that were similar. Sometimes, this meant that many of the best steam cleaners and mops in this guide were compared against each other.
How to choose a steam cleaner
When it comes to choosing the right steam mop or cleaner for your home, there are a few features that are worth looking out for:
- Water tank size: If you have a larger home and want to clean a lot at once, it's best to opt for a larger tank so you won't have to constantly refill it.
- Weight and manoeuvrability: When filled with water, steam cleaners and mops can be heavy. This is something to consider if you have mobility issues. It's also important to consider the length of the power cord if you don't have too many plug sockets nearby.
- Variable steam settings
- Heat-up time: A good steam cleaner should heat up in around 30 seconds, which means you don't have to wait too long to start cleaning. If it's any longer than that, you may want to reconsider.
- Accessories: It's a good idea to consider what you're going to use your steam cleaner for. If you just want to use it on your floors, a simple steam mop will suffice. If you want to use it for your floors, carpets, and in your kitchen and bathroom, you'll need accessories such as grout tools, bristled brushes, carpet gliders and upholstery covers.
Our expert testing panel
Here's a rundown of exactly what qualifies our testers as experts, and the kind of homes these steam cleaners and mops have been tested in.
Our tester Caramel Quin has decades of experience of reviewing technology products, writing for, among others, The Evening Standard, The Express, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Mail on Sunday.
With two teenage children and a pet dog to clean up after, Caramel tested multiple steam cleaners a rigorous test at home over several weeks.
Lauren Bradbury is Ideal Home's Content Editor for House Manual, as well as our Certified Expert in Vacuums. It's her job to test all manner of household cleaning appliances, and she tested the Vileda Steam Mop for this guide.
As Lauren shares her home with a mucky pup that leaves muddy paw prints wherever he goes, she was particularly interested in how it cleaned her floors.
Jenny McFarlane joined the Ideal Home team as Senior Digital Editor in 2023 following a couple of years working across sister brands Real Homes, Homes & Gardens, Livingetc and Gardeningetc.
As part of Ideal Home's commitment to how we test the products we recommend, she tested a number of these steam cleaners like the the Vax Steam Fresh Total Home and the Bissell SteamShot while tackling the never-ending cleaning in her busy family home.
Annie is the former deputy ecommerce editor and is now a regular freelance contributor for Ideal Home.
She has tested a variety of home appliances, including dehumidifiers, air purifiers, vacuums, coffee machines, and, of course, steam cleaners. She tested the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner in her busy home that she shares with her husband, young child, and dog.
Rebecca is a freelance contributor and reviewer for Ideal Home, and spends most of her time testing or writing about cleaning products. She's particularly interested in testing products that'll help her tackle the mess her three kids leave in their wake.
For this guide, she tested the Kärcher SC 1 Multi & Up Extra, using it on everything from her floors to her kitchen tiles.
FAQs
What are the different types of steam cleaner?
While it may be easy to assume that all steam cleaners are the same, there are a few different options on the market. They’re often designed for different uses, so it’s important to choose one that suits your needs - and your budget. To help you understand the differences between a steam mop vs a steam cleaner, we’ve broken down the types of steam cleaners available:
Steam mop: If you only want to steam clean floors, consider a simple machine that doesn’t convert to a handheld. It will be light and easy to manoeuvre, and you won’t have to store fiddly tools that you’ve no intention of using.
Convertible steam cleaner: These 2-in-1 cleaners are upright steam mops where the steam generator can pop out from the middle to be used as a smaller, handheld cleaner. They come with various tools for steam cleaning smaller stuff.
Cylinder steam cleaner: For the ultimate in powerful, long-lasting steam, get a cylinder cleaner. They generate a constant flow of strong steam that makes light work of anything. But they take up more cupboard space.
Do you need to use any cleaning products with a steam cleaner?
You don't need to use any cleaning products with a steam cleaner, as Polya Petrova from cleaning company Fantastic Services explains, 'Steam cleaning is generally considered more efficient and effective than traditional mopping because steam mops use high temperatures to loosen and dissolve dirt, grime and stains, making it easier to remove them from various surfaces.'
'The heat from the steam also kills many common household bacteria and allergens, providing a more thorough, clean and hygienic domestic environment. Besides that, steam cleaning requires only water and doesn't involve using chemical cleaners, making it a more eco-friendly option. In contrast, traditional mopping often relies on chemical agents, which can be harmful to the environment and human health if they aren’t used and disposed of properly.'
In fact, using cleaning products with a steam cleaner could be counterproductive, as Julian Gaze, Managing Director of Janitorial Direct, explains, ‘Using chemicals may also be corrosive which can potentially damage the machine and reduce its overall effectiveness.’
To keep your steam mop or cleaner in good working order, Henrique Conceicao, Area Manager at Total Clean adds, ‘I recommend using distilled water to prevent limescale build-up, which can impact the steam function over time.’
Does steam cleaning actually work?
After testing a whole host of them, we can say with confidence that steam cleaning does work – and on several surfaces, too. From your hobs to your shower tiles, these cleaners can help remove stubborn dirt and sanitise, thanks to the high temperatures of the steam these appliances omit.
Josh Warren, AO.com’s floorcare expert adds, 'Steam cleaners are an efficient way to remove stains around your home from areas such as carpets and hard floors.'
'They are handy appliances for keeping your home clean as the steam they produce helps to kill any bacteria that may be hiding in your floor. They are particularly effective at cleaning any hard-to-reach places and when you clean a home from top to bottom, this will help eliminate any lingering odours from your carpets.'
Steam cleaning can also be effective if you’re looking to get rid of household pests, such as bed bugs. However, it's also important to know the things you should never clean with a steam cleaner.