A stick vacuum is a slim, lightweight vacuum with the motor and dust container mounted on a long handle, so you hold it upright like a broom. Most modern stick vacuums are cordless and battery-powered, and many detach into a handheld unit for stairs, furniture, and car interiors.

A good vacuum for pet hair has four things: strong, steady suction; a dedicated pet-hair brush tool; fine filtration for dander and odours, and a large dust capacity so you empty it less often. The Numatic Henry Petcare HPC160 canister vacuum meets all four. It has a HairoBrush tool, a charcoal MicroFresh filter, and 0.3-micron filtration at 99.97% efficiency, according to its listing.

The best cordless vacuum depends on how you clean. For long runtime, a bagged system and mixed hard floors and low-to-medium pile carpet, the Numatic Henry Quick Cordless Bagged Stick Vacuum is the strongest all-rounder in this guide, with up to 70 minutes of runtime on Normal mode. For a lightweight, budget-friendly cordless vacuum cleaner for quick cleanups, the Cyclovac Airstream weighs just 2.2 kg. For large hard-floor spaces, commercial HEPA vacuuming, carpet deep cleaning, and automatic floor scrubbing, we cover four professional-grade machines below.

A Nilfisk central vacuum system is a good choice if you want strong suction, quiet cleaning, and cleaner indoor air in a home that is big enough to justify a built-in system. The two models in our range are the Nilfisk Supreme 150, which we group with homes of about 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, and the Supreme 250, which we group with homes of about 3,000 to 5,000 square feet. You can buy either as a bare power unit or as a package with a hose and powerhead.