If you’re looking for the best Dyson vacuum cleaner, it’s worth knowing exactly what each model brings to the table before splashing your cash. Dyson is one of the most recognisable vacuum cleaner brands in the world, known for its engineering, technical innovation and powerful suction, but choosing which of its vacuum cleaner’s is right for your home can be daunting.
I’ve been testing household appliances for almost a decade, and in that time I’ve tried just about every type of vacuum cleaner you can imagine. From lightweight handhelds and powerful cordless sticks to robot vacuums, wet floor cleaners, cylinders and uprights, I’ve seen how different designs perform in real homes and everyday situations.
With that in mind, I’ve tested a wide range of Dyson models to find the ones that genuinely stand out. Of course the best one for your home will depend more on your flooring and home layout than raw suction power.
So, whether you need something lightweight for quick daily cleans, a powerful machine for pet hair, or a model that can wash hard floors as well as vacuum them, I’ve selected the very best Dyson vacuums to suit different households, floor types and budgets.
The best Dyson vacuum cleaners for 2026 are:
- Best overall – Dyson pencilvac fluffycones: £349.99, Dyson.co.uk
- Best budget option – Dyson V8 cyclone: £249, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for homes with pets – Dyson V16 piston animal: £649.99, Dyson.co.uk
- Best for the car – Dyson car + boat: £199.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best robot vacuum cleaner – Dyson spot + scrub AI: £899.99, Dyson.co.uk
Read more: 9 best car vacuum cleaners, expert-tested in real vehicles
How I tested
I tested each Dyson at home across hard floors and carpets, using everyday mess and repeatable debris tests to compare performance fairly. Although Dyson’s cordless vacuum cleaners now dominate the brand’s range, I’ve included corded options too. For more detail on my full testing criteria and process, scroll to the bottom of this review.
Read more: Dyson’s pencilvac is ridiculously lightweight, but how does it perform?
Dyson pencilvac fluffycones
Best: Dyson vacuum cleaner overall
Weight: 1.8kg
Charge time: 3.5 hours
Run time: Up to 30 minutes
Bin volume: 80ml
Dimensions: 116cm x 22.6cm x 3.8cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Ultra-lightweight and easy to steer
- Excellent on hard floors and pet hair
- Brilliant for cobwebs
Take note
- Small dustbin
- Emptying can be fiddly
The best Dyson vacuum cleaner I tested is the pencilvac fluffycones. In my tests on sealed wood and tile, it was able to pick up fine dust, scattered debris and pet hair, gliding smoothly around furniture legs and tight corners where larger cordless models can feel unwieldy. Edge cleaning was particularly strong. Keep in mind, however, is designed purely for hard floors, so won’t be effective at deep carpet cleaning.
What makes it so distinctive is the engineering. Everything – motor, battery and dustbin – is housed within the slim handle, which keeps the floor head extremely low-profile and light. It’s noticeably easier to manoeuvre than Dyson’s other cordless options, and far less physically demanding, while it’s also very quiet in operation.
The dusting attachment is excellent for clearing cobwebs from ceilings and corners, and the lightweight build makes above-floor cleaning simple. The compromise is capacity: the bin is small and can be slightly fiddly to empty. But if your home is predominantly hard flooring and you want something ultra-light and easy to handle, particularly if mobility is a concern, this is a thoughtfully designed option.
Read my full review of the Dyson pencilvac fluffycones
Buy now £349.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson V8 cyclone
Best: budget cordless Dyson vacuum cleaner
Weight: 2.7kg
Charge time: 4 hours
Run time: Up to 60 minutes
Bin volume: 500ml
Dimensions: 21cm x 116cm x 25cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Strong suction for the price
- Triggerless operation
- Simple, hygienic bin emptying
Take note
- Limited attachments included
- No laser dust detection
The best budget Dyson vacuum cleaner is one of the brand’s most practical cordless models, the V8 cyclone. This updated version delivers stronger suction than previous V8 models, with up to 60 minutes of runtime and enough power for most everyday cleaning tasks.
In my tests, it performed particularly well on hard floors. Flour and lentils disappeared in a single pass, leaving virtually nothing behind. Running the same debris tests on carpet took a little more effort, with a couple of extra passes needed to clear everything fully, but the motorbar cleaner head still did a solid job of lifting dirt and pet hair.
One of my favourite upgrades is the triggerless operation. Instead of holding down the trigger while vacuuming, you simply switch it on and off with a button, which avoids the finger fatigue some Dyson models can cause. Emptying the bin is just as straightforward – pull the red lever and the bin door drops open to release the debris.
It’s not as feature-packed as newer Dyson models, as you only get two attachments, and there’s no laser light to reveal hidden dust. Still, this is a reliable cordless offering excellent value.
Buy now £249, Amazon.co.uk
Dyson V15s detect submarine
Best: Dyson vacuum for carpets and hard floors
Weight: 3.8kg (empty water tank), 4.1kg (full water tank)
Charge time: 4.5 hours
Run time: Up to 60 minutes
Bin volume: 770ml
Dimensions: 124.6cm x 26.6cm x 25.3cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Vacuums and washes hard floors in one pass
- Excellent suction across carpets and hard floors
- Fluffy optic head reveals hidden dust
Take note
- Expensive
- Wet roller head is fiddly to empty and clean
One of the most versatile cordless models I’ve tested, Dyson’s V15s detect submarine is the best Dyson vacuum cleaner for homes with both carpets and hard floors. Its standout feature is the submarine wet roller head, which allows you to vacuum and wash hard floors at the same time. In my kitchen tests, it made light work of sticky jam, dried sauces and muddy paw prints, leaving floors noticeably cleaner than a standard vacuum alone.
The suite of cleaner heads is particularly useful. Alongside the submarine attachment, you get Dyson’s fluffy optic cleaner head, which uses a laser light to reveal fine dust on hard floors, and the digital motorbar cleaner head for carpets and rugs. The motorbar is especially strong on pet hair and automatically adjusts suction depending on the floor type, so you can move between surfaces without constantly switching modes.
Battery life reaches up to 60 minutes on eco mode, and the wall-mounted dock for charging can be used for storing the vacuum and its attachments neatly. The wet roller head does require careful rinsing after use, however, and I found it could leave murky streaks if not cleaned thoroughly. It can also feel slightly fiddly to empty and put back together. That said, it’s so useful that I still reach for it now, even after the testing period.
Buy now £800, Argos.co.uk
Dyson car + boat
Best: Dyson vacuum for the car
Weight: 1.9kg
Charge time: 5 hours
Run time: Up to 50 minutes
Bin volume: 540ml
Dimensions: 20.6cm x 33.1cm x 13.1cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Strong suction for a handheld
- Excellent tools for tight spaces
- Lightweight and easy to use
Take note
- Pricey for a handheld
- No wand for extended reach
The best Dyson vacuum to use in the car, Dyson’s car + boat squeezes in an impressive amount of suction for such a compact machine. It’s designed specifically for vehicles and tight spaces, and in my car (which regularly transports a moulting and muddy golden retriever) it lifted embedded pet hair and grit far more effectively than most handhelds I’ve tried. The mini motorised tool is particularly good on upholstery, while the crevice tool gets neatly between seats and along dashboard edges.
It’s lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, but it is expensive for a handheld-only model, and if you have a particularly mucky car, the bin volume might be frustrating.
Without a wand, it’s also less versatile indoors, so you’ll still need a full-size vacuum for whole-house cleaning. But, if you want serious power in a small, portable format, it certainly delivers.
Buy now £199.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson cinetic big ball animal 2
Best: Dyson cylinder vacuum cleaner
Weight: 5.8kg
Bin volume: 1.5l
Dimensions: 30.8cm x 39.7cm x 34.9cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Outstanding suction power
- Excellent on stairs and pet hair
- Pops upright if knocked over
Take note
- Corded
- Larger footprint than stick vacuums
The Dyson cinetic big ball animal 2 is arguably the best cylinder Dyson vacuum. I genuinely wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did, as I’m a cordless girl at heart, but it proved to be a cleaning powerhouse. Suction is excellent – it cleared crumbled biscuits, fine flour and embedded pet hair with ease, and edge cleaning was particularly strong. On stairs, it’s probably the most effective Dyson I’ve used; the turbine tool lifted ground-in hair that countless other vacuums have routinely missed.
It’s self-righting which means it pops upright if knocked over, like a roly-poly toy, which is a lot more practical than it sounds. The adjustable handle pivots low enough to reach well under furniture, and the long hose makes above-floor cobweb and dust-bunny cleaning super straightforward. It’s also a lot lighter to carry than many full-sized cylinders, which makes a huge difference when moving between rooms or carrying it up a floor.
Tool selection is generous and genuinely useful. You get the standard pneumatic muscle head floor tool, a turbine head for deeper carpet cleaner, a tangle-free turbine tool for hair, a stair tool with velour strip, and a combination tool that switches between a brush and a crevice nozzle depending on the task.
There are no filters to wash or replace, so maintenance is minimal, and the one-click bin emptying is genuinely easy and hygienic. Of course, it’s still a corded vacuum, so you lose the flexibility of Dyson’s cordless range, but for sustained suction power and reliability from Dyson, it’s unrivalled.
Buy now £469.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson spot + scrub AI
Best: robot Dyson vacuum cleaner
Weight: 6.6kg (robot), 9kg (dock)
Charge time: 3 hours
Run time: Up to 200 minutes
Bin volume: 3l
Dimensions: 11cm x 37cm x 37.3cm (robot), 45.5cm x 50.8cm x 44cm (dock)
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Heated roller delivers a deeper, smear-free wash
- Fast, accurate mapping and obstacle avoidance
- Very quiet operation
Take note
- Bulky base station
- No manual steering via the app
- Dyson recommends you only use its own cleaning solution
Impressively advanced, the spot + scrub AI is the best Dyson robot vacuum cleaner I’ve tested. It connected to Wi-Fi quickly and mapped my home faster than most robots I’ve tried, with notably accurate obstacle recognition. It scans its environment repeatedly as it moves, and in practice that means far fewer bumps into furniture than older robot models.
Set up is refreshingly straightforward and quick, but you can also rely on Dyson’s one-to-one set up and support service, which includes a staff member talking you through connecting to your Wi-Fi, mapping out your home for cleaning and going through each of the spot + scrub’s individual features.
This model combines vacuuming with heated (60C) wet cleaning. In my kitchen and hallway tests on laminate floor, it removed sticky jam and milk in one or two passes, and left a noticeably smear-free finish. The wet roller lifts automatically when carpet is detected, boosting suction instead, so it transitions smoothly between surfaces. It’s also impressively quiet at around 44dB, which is far quieter than a standard vacuum cleaner.
The Dyson app is comprehensive and easy to use, allowing you to split and rename rooms, set schedules, create no-go zones and tailor cleaning modes. You can’t manually steer it for targeted spot cleaning, which some rivals allow, and Dyson currently recommends using only its own cleaning solution (£20, Harveynorman.co.uk), which is a little frustrating. It’s a large machine, better suited to bigger homes, but in terms of automation and floor-washing intelligence, it feels like a genuine step forward.
Read our full review of the Dyson spot + scrub AI
Buy now £899.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson ball animal multi-floor
Best: Dyson upright vacuum cleaner
Weight: 7.3kg
Bin volume: 1.8l
Dimensions: 106.5cm x 39cm x 28cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Exceptional suction power
- Long 14m total reach
- Excellent range of attachments
Take note
- Heavy to push around
- Bulky compared with cordless models
For maximum suction and a generous bin capacity, opt for the Dyson ball animal multi-floor. Suction felt genuinely formidable – it cleared biscuit crumbs and fine debris effortlessly, and pet hair disappeared in a single pass. Watching it fill the canister so quickly was oddly satisfying.
It’s heavy, at over 7kg, which is particularly noticeable on longer pile carpet, where pushing requires some effort. That said, it’s much easier to glide across hard floors, and the signature ball mechanism allows for smooth steering around furniture. The 60 per cent larger bin means less emptying is required, and dirt ejects cleanly at the push of a button. With a total reach of 14m and an extendable, flexible hose, there’s none of the range anxiety you sometimes get with corded models.
Attachments are generous. The reach under tool, which bends and extends to access awkward spaces behind radiators or high corners, proved particularly useful, while the tangle-free turbine tool performed well on stairs and upholstery.
It’s powerful, reliable workhorse that is best suited to larger homes and makes a strong case for sticking with a traditional upright.
Buy now £279.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson V16 piston animal
Best: Dyson vacuum for pet hair
Weight: 3.4kg
Charge time: 4.5 hours
Run time: Up to 70 minutes
Bin volume: 1.3l
Dimensions: 25.9cm x 129.8cm x 25cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Outstanding 315AW suction
- Holds up to 30 days of dust
- Illuminated cleaner heads
Take note
- Premium price
- Can flick larger debris on first pass
When it comes to pure suction power from a cordless model, Dyson’s V16 piston animal comes out on top, which lends it to cleaning homes with pets. In testing, it felt noticeably more powerful than the V15s, delivering 315AW of suction with up to 70 minutes of runtime – impressive for a cordless machine of this strength.
On hard floors, it cleared fine flour and scattered biscuit crumbs in a single pass. On carpet, it was exceptional at lifting embedded pet hair. When I tested it with lentils, the cleaner head did flick a few backwards initially, but after a couple of passes, everything was removed.
The all-floor conical cleaner head is designed to spiral and detangle long hair as it cleans, and I experienced very little wrapping during use. The central blade of light helps expose microscopic dust and dirt along edges and across hard floors, so you don’t miss a thing.
It uses a sensor to count particles up to 15,000 times a second and automatically adjusts suction based on debris levels. The LCD screen shows real-time particle data, power mode and remaining runtime. While I don’t obsess over the particle count, it’s reassuring to see exactly what’s being removed – and the automatic suction adjustment is genuinely helpful when moving between surfaces.
The bin compresses dust as you clean and can hold up to 30 days’ worth of debris before needing emptying, which is a noticeable improvement over older cordless models.
It comes with a wall dock, hair screw tool, combi tool and crevice tool, and there’s also a wet-and-dry version available if you want functionality similar to the submarine (£769.99, Dyson.co.uk).
Buy now £749.99, Dyson.co.uk
Dyson clean + wash hygiene
Best: Dyson wet floor cleaner
Weight: 3.82kg
Clean water tank: 0.75l
Dirty water tank: 0.52l
Dimensions: 109.6cm x 24.4cm x 28cm
Bagless: Yes
Why we love it
- Leaves floors almost dry
- Self-cleaning with hot air drying dock
- Easier to clean than earlier Dyson wet models
Take note
- Can splash if not kept level when emptying
- No attachments
The Dyson clean + wash hygiene is one of Dyson’s newest dedicated hard floor cleaners, and it certainly feels like a refinement of the brand’s earlier wet-dry cleaners. It doesn’t use a traditional filter system, which means no clogging and less risk of bacteria or lingering smells building up inside the machine. In practice, I found it straightforward to use and noticeably easier to dismantle and clean than the submarine head, which can be super fiddly.
In testing, it made light work of muddy footprints and paw prints after a particularly wet weekend in my hallway. The high-speed microfibre roller scrubs effectively, and my floors were dry in just a few minutes. There’s a small edge gap of around 1.5cm that it doesn’t quite reach, but overall cleaning coverage is strong. An anti-tangle comb also helps prevent pet hair from wrapping around the roller.
The self-clean cycle is a standout feature. It flushes the system before drying the roller with 85C hot air, leaving it dry to the touch and helping prevent odours. It’s moderately noisy while doing this (I clocked it at 50dB), but it’s no louder than my tumble dryer and the hygiene payoff is worth it. Emptying the dirty water tank and debris tray isn’t fully hands-free and can be a bit of a faff at first – you need to keep the tank level to avoid splashing – but it becomes easier with practice.
Slim and manoeuvrable, it lies flat to around 11.3cm, making it easy to get under low furniture. It doesn’t come with attachments, but for a dedicated hard-floor washer, it delivers a thorough, hygienic clean.
Buy now £379.99, Dyson.co.uk
Your questions about Dyson vacuum cleaners answered
What are the best Dyson vacuum cleaners?
The Dyson pencilvac fluffycones is my top pick, thanks to its ultra-light design and manoeuvrability, and its impressive ability to pick up dust, debris and pet hair from hard-floor, making it ideal for quick daily cleans. If your home has a mix of carpets and hard floors, the Dyson V15s detect submarine is a brilliant all-rounder, combining powerful suction with the ability to wash hard floors in a single pass. For a more affordable option, the Dyson V8 cyclone remains a dependable cordless vacuum that delivers strong everyday performance without the premium price tag of Dyson’s newer models.
How I tested Dyson vacuum cleaners
I tested each Dyson vacuum in my home, across hard floors and carpets, to tackle pet hair, crumbs, dust and more. I assessed each one on the following factors:
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Joanne Lewsley has tested all the Dyson vacuums in this guide in her busy family home with a golden retriever. She has been reviewing vacuum cleaners and other household appliances for several years, for IndyBest and other consumer sites. She’s tested everything from the best cordless vacuums to the best wet and dry vacuum cleaners, putting them through practical cleaning scenarios to see how they perform when it really matters.
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