Best cordless vacuum cleaners of 2024 in UK – our top 12 stick vacuums after testing dozens

Upgrade to one of the best cordless vacuums, which are engineered to extend to every corner of your home to banish dust and dirt.

To make investing in the top-rated cordless vacuum for your budget a little easier, we've tested every single choice you can see in this guide and highlighted which are the best value for money. 

A number of our top 12 come in at £300 or under if you want the convenience of cordlessness for less – you'll be able to tell them from their 'Budget Buy' badges.

As part of our review process, these vacuums have been put to work on hard floors and carpets, often for months, before we come to a verdict on suction power, ease of use and adaptability to homes with pet hair and other obstacles. 

Some of the best cordless vacuum cleaners also feature in our guide to the best vacuum cleaners. While cord-free vacs are sometimes not quite as powerful as corded models, they more than make up for it in lightweight design, attachment selection, and convenient use. These are the cord-free ones that the Ideal Home team wouldn't be without.

The best cordless vacuum cleaners – the quick list

Not got a lot of time on your hunt for the best cordless vacuum? Our quick list is the fastest way to get to our top 6 picks, including choices from Shark, Hoover and VAX.

Best overall cordless vacuum cleaner

Buy it if: you want a great value, high-performing cordless vac.

This Shark vacuum really blew us away when we put it to the test at home. Highlights included the PowerFins, which reached deep into carpets with every pass to make them look as good as new. On hard floors there was serious power too, and toggling between those modes was painless thanks to the smart display panel.

Our verdict
During testing, our reviewer Millie loved how easy it was to store this vacuum. The hinge in the middle of the vacuum was invaluable for bending for easy storage and it stood unsupported when packed away. However, she couldn't leave it standing up unsupported when she was midway through using it, annoyingly.

If you have a mainly carpeted home, then listen up, as Millie found that this cordless vacuum really proved its worth in those high-traffic carpet areas. When vacuuming around her dog's bed, she was wowed by the visible line of clean carpet it left in its wake.

Value for money
We know that this is a pricey choice, but the performance speaks for itself when it comes to getting your money's worth. It's also very common to find Shark vacuums on sale, either through Shark themselves or on Amazon, so it's worth waiting until major events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday if you can, for mega-discounts.

You can buy the Shark IZ300UKT for an added pet attachment (which will cost you more) or the IZ320UK for two batteries. For all the bells and whistles, try the IZ320UKT. It has a pet attachment and two batteries, but other than that it's the same vacuum as the IZ300UK.

Our Shark IZ300UK Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner review has the full details.

Best budget cordless vacuum

Buy it if: you need a solid all-rounder cordless vacuum.

If you're debating buying a new cordless vac, it wouldn't be a surprise if VAX was a brand near the top of your list. We think they deliver consistently great vacuums, which is why we've replaced the Blade 4 in this list with the Blade 5, which has a good number of improvements on its predecessor.

Our verdict
The suction power on the Blade 5 is brilliant, and the oversized floorhead means that you'll be done with swooping around your house or flat in quick time. The battery life on the Vax Blade 5 gave us absolutely no trouble, and we completed all of the tasks we needed to that day without having to return for a second charge. 

Even better, with the Vax Blade 5 you get access to two batteries, which means you should get up to 90 minutes of charge, and you'll never be without your sturdy Vax vac when you need it. The Blade 5 is admittedly a little heavier than its predecessor, but it is brimming with great accessories and comes with a wall mount too, so that storage is straightforward.

Value for money
Both the Vax Blade 4 and the 5 get the great value seal of approval from us - stick with the former if you're on a tight budget, and enjoy the features that come with the upgrade if you can stretch to the ££ of the latter. While the RRP of the Vax Blade 5 looks quite daunting, you can regularly find it on sale for much, much less, which is why we think it's a great choice to look out for if you're on a budget. 

Best cordless vacuum for pick up

Buy it if: you hate musty vacuum smells (thanks to Anti Odour tech). 

The Shark Stratos range was released in 2022 and goes further than other vacuums to make debris and dust pick-up as seamless as possible. This particular cordless Stratos showed unbelievable suction power during testing, and left carpets visibly cleaner, with no issues with pet hair or human hair. Gone are the days of lengthy maintenance with the Stratos too, with easy-to-clean mechanisms that you'll be unbelievably grateful for. 

Our verdict
There's no doubt that our testing process proved that the Shark Stratos is worth the large price tag. Even if you don't have pets, the ease with which this vacuum does away with hair is astounding, and our Ecommerce Editor Molly found that it was unmatched when it came to suction. 

The capacity of this vacuum to transform into a smaller handheld model is also phenomenal, and you'll be reaching for the smaller attachments all the time to quickly resolve smaller messes all over your home. The battery life is also stellar, and 60 minutes was available during testing on non-turbo mode. One non-essential that we are obsessed with is the Anti Odour capsules that you can pop into the dustbin. These mean that there are no more musty smells when you're emptying your vac out. 

Value for money
You can fork out more for the two-battery Shark Stratos model if you think you need a spare pack on charge while the other is in use, but it's not a necessity if you live in a small or medium-sized home. All in all, this is admittedly a pricier vacuum, but if you can afford it, we're sure it will impress you time and time again. 

Our Shark Stratos IZ420UKT cordless vacuum review has the full details.

Best cordless Dyson

But it if: you want the snazziest cordless vac on the market. 

Nobody does cordless vacuums quite like Dyson, which is why almost everyone wants one. The Gen5detect™ Absolute is just another in the brand's line of sleek, stylish and unbelievably powerful cordless vacs. The battery life on this one was particularly impressive during testing, and it charges up so quickly too. The catch? The price is astronomical, which makes it hard to recommend for everyone.

Our verdict
If you haven't heard about the latest in vacuum tech (where have you been?!), then Dyson's newest cordless vacs have Piezo sensors and impressive green lasers to help you tackle every inch of dirt in your home. When testing, we found it really did help to uncover how much hidden dirt there really was on hard floors, and the LCD screen tells you everything you need to know about exactly which kind of debris you're picking up.

Value for money
It couldn't be easier to use Dyson vacuums, and they've thankfully kitted out the Gen5detect (unlike the earlier V15) with a button to start and stop rather than a trigger, in order to save your hands. The point-and-shoot bin mechanism is also genius, and the three suction levels are perfect for moving from everyday cleaning to getting deeper into carpets and rugs.

This is truly a star buy, but we wish that we could have more of the Dyson sparkle on a budget. For now, though, it's one of the best cordless vacuums on the market - at a huge cost. 

Best cordless vacuum under £250

Buy it if: you want the reliability of a Henry in a cordless form.

This vacuum is the next chapter in Henry's huge history of influence in cleaning in the UK. With a cordless stick design for the first time, the Henry Quick holds on to all of the iconic branding quirks that we love while packing in respectable suction power and a lightweight design to make your vacuuming routine easier. 

Our verdict
During testing, our Ecommerce Editor Molly found this vacuum to be a super reliable choice. The design was endearing and impressive and will speak to fans of the usual happy-faced Henry vacs that we all know and love. Standout features included just how easy this was vacuum to use, with a two-button control panel, and LED lights that help with cleaning in the evenings. If you love Henry but are a little apprehensive to make the move to a cordless model, this vacuum makes a great place to start.

One thing that sets Henry Quick apart from other vacuums on this list is the use of dust bags. You receive 26 of these bags with your Henry and using them most definitely cuts back on dust clouds upon emptying and means you can go longer without needing to empty at all. Allergy sufferers who want to use a cordless vacuum will massively benefit from this type of design, but repurchasing dust bags in the future may not be for everyone.

Value for money
Henry vacuums tend to be very reliable workhorses, and with an RRP of £300 (but easy to find for closer to the £250 mark), you're onto a winner if you want to invest for the long term. The fact that the Quick uses a bagged system may also be a win when it comes to durability, as it means that your vacuum's parts stay cleaner on a day-to-day basis. 

Our NUMATIC Henry Quick cordless vacuum review has the full details.

Best cordless vacuum under £300

Buy it if: you can find it on sale for a great price.

The Hoover HF9 doesn't have the lowest RRP of the bunch here, but you can almost always find it on sale for under £300 - and it's a great workhorse for that price. With a design that's pretty similar to high-end brands but without the flourish of high-tech features, it's a solid buy for family homes.

Our verdict
One of the best things our Ecommerce Editor found during testing was the strong suction, which was favourable on hard floors as well as carpets. And, if you turn the controls up to Turbo, you've got a whole new level of power to work with in order to banish pet hair, dust and all other sorts of gross stuff. 

Ok, so it's not quite at Dyson levels when it comes to high-tech features - no lasers or Piezo sensors in sight - but it is a strong, reliable choice for vacuuming. It's pretty strong when it comes to charging too, with 30 minutes to work with. 

Value for money
It can be tricky to know how much to spend on a cordless vacuum, but if you can pick up the HF9 on sale for around the £240 mark, then you will most definitely get your use out of it in just a couple of years. If this is going to be a supplementary cordless number to ease pressure on your main vacuum, or maybe your first vacuum since you've moved out of your parent's house, it's a great find. 

Our Hoover HF9 Cordless Vacuum review has the full details.

Best cordless vacuum for carpet

Buy it if: you want the power of a corded vac without the cord!

We know it looks like many of Shark's upright vacuum cleaners, but the Shark ICZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Upright Vacuum Cleaner is completely cordless, with all the power we're used to seeing on plug-in alternatives. It's got a front-facing dustbin that's connected to the filter and battery, and you can lift this away to remove the cleaning unit from the stick and carry the vacuum up the stairs or out to the car.

Our verdict
For a cordless vacuum, the power available to you is astounding. It was brilliant on pet hair when our reviewer Millie put it to the test, and while it's definitely one of the heaviest options on the market, it was up to heavy-duty work and rivalled a corded vacuum in cleaning up the whole home. Millie found the control panel easy to toggle, and reported that even the eco power mode, which is the lowest of the three settings, was plenty on tiled floors.

The brush head here is a little clunky and it definitely lacks the nimble motions of stick vacuums, but if you want a cordless vacuum cleaner to stay on top of a busy home with different floor types, you'll love how easily you can switch between hard and soft floors with the touch of a button with this vac.

Value for money
Another pricier option from Shark - but if you're looking for maximum power because you're just going to have one vacuum in the house, then it's worth stretching to the extra expense. 

Our Shark ICZ300UKT cordless vacuum review has the full details.

Best cordless vacuum with stand

Buy it if: you need a solid performer that comes with a stand to keep things organised.

The Beko Powerclean has a similar design to some of the best Shark vacuum cleaners, with a hinged design for reaching under furniture. It's immensely powerful, too. There are three strength modes, but we found that we hardly needed to use the stronger settings in most settings thanks to the sheer power at play here. It's also got a supremely handy stand to keep things organised in flats or larger homes.

Our verdict
After trying it out at home for almost two months, our reviewer Millie was seriously impressed by this all-rounder of a vacuum. She loved the intuitive controls and was blown away by the suction power. When using the large hard floor head, she found this vacuum could pick up anything she threw at it, including larger debris like pasta shells and an impressive amount of dust.  

Millie also found switching out the tools to be easy enough, though you do need to twist a little screw attachment to remove the brush rolls and toggle between hard floor and carpet, which was a bit of a pain.

The vacuum has a stand for storage, with a groove to hold the vacuum handle and charge it when not in use. Charging takes three hours, and Millie found the battery life to be about 45 minutes. Controls work with a thumb trigger, and above this, you'll find the plus and minus buttons you'll need to adjust strength.

Value for money
This is another affordable vacuum if you're shopping on a tight budget, and with a 5-star performance, it's fair to say that it's the real deal. You get plenty of attachments for your money, and you can find it for less than £200 if you shop around.

Our Beko Powerclean VRT94929VI Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review has the full details.

Best cordless vacuum under £100

Buy it if: you've got less than £100 to spend.

Beldray do budget vacuums well, and the Opti-Air is a favourable choice if you've got less than £100 to spend. It looks good and performs just fine on hard floors, but beware that large debris (like the cereal in our tests) may spell trouble for the inner mechanisms. 

Our verdict
This vacuum is a lightweight wonder at 3.7kg, and was really easy to use, and fairly quick to charge for completing small jobs. It would really work best as a supplementary vacuum to a sturdier corded model, but for its price, we were pleasantly surprised during testing.

Value for money
With an RRP of £96.99, it's wise not to put all of your hopes for vacuuming into this model, but ultimately, it's not that bad at what it needs to do. 30 minutes of vacuuming was definitely possible from one charge, and minor jobs were taken care of pretty capably by this Beldray, including a flour pick up test. Just don't have sky-high expectations!

Our Beldray Opti-Air Vacuum Cleaner review has the full details.

Best lightweight cordless vacuum

Buy it if: it's essential you get a lightweight vac for hard floors.

Dreaming of owning a Dyson but not convinced by the price tag? Understandable, which is why we want to direct your attention to the Dyson Micro 1.5kg. It's the lightest and smallest cordless vacuum in this guide, and with an entry-level price when compared to other Dyson models. The vacuum is very powerful, and our Head of Reviews Millie was impressed with it on the whole.

Our verdict
Attachments include a soft roller cleaner head, mini motorised tool, and combination tool. While there is no roller for carpets, our Head of Reviews Millie found the mini motorised tool worked well on rugs and car upholstery in testing. She also found that the battery life was just shy of half an hour, which is a way off Dyson's 50 minute promise, but because the vacuum glides so effortlessly across floors, it made quick work of kitchen floors and hallway dirt and dust.

Value for money
While it's not a top pick for large homes (due to the small size of the dustbin) or for carpeted spaces, the Dyson Micro is well suited to flats. It's the most affordable Dyson on the market alongside the V8 and is the best price you'll find if this is the brand you've set your heart on. 

It's also pretty good investment-wise for those who have upright or canister vacuums for their heavy duty cleans, but want something for those midweek sweeps that can sit pretty when not in use.

Our Dyson Micro 1.5kg review has the full details.

Best cordless vacuum for pets

Buy it if: you want a top-range pet-friendly vac.

The Miele Triflex HX2 Vacuum Cleaner is the most pet-friendly cordless vacuum cleaner we've tried, with a powerful motor to help you to banish hair and dirt from your favourite four-legged friends. 

Our verdict
There are two standout features here to love: the unbelievably powerful motor and the very capable floorhead, which whizzed around our testing space picking up a huge amount of hair without getting tangled. 

One drawback with this vacuum is that it's pretty top-heavy, making it harder to manoeuvre than it might need to be. Cleverly you can move the position of the dustbin around to give it more balance, but it's not great at standing up on its own. It's also trickier than it should be to empty out the dustbin, which will become annoying pretty quickly if you're cleaning a large space.

Value for money
It's a really flexible model, with a great reach to get to every corner of your home and 60 minutes of runtime, so that you can adequately cover all the ground that you need to. It's also got an auto-adjustment feature, which means that it'll sense the kind of ground it's covering, and amp up the power accordingly. 

It does feel quite pricey at near the £400 mark, but the quality of the materials is excellent, and it feels like this is a vacuum that'll help you clean up after your pets for a good few years at the very least.

Best cordless vacuum for big spaces

Buy it if: you've got the money to spend on a family-friendly Dyson.

The Dyson V11 Outsize is a re-engineered version of the Absolute to include a 150% larger bin, 25% bigger cleaner head, with up to 60 minutes of runtime. It also offers 20% more suction compared to the V10, which was a popular model just a couple of years ago.

Our verdict
Our reviewer Jen was impressed with the plentiful battery life of this vacuum which was more than sufficient for whipping around a 2-bed terraced home. She also found it was great to be able to adjust the cleaning modes which can make a difference to the battery life and noise level.

Jen found using this vacuum with the attachments such as the mini motorized tool and combination tool was useful around the home, across all levels and there are 11 tools in total to opt for to give you yet more freedom to clean. There is no way to store these attachments on board the stick vacuum cleaner, however, so finding some suitable cupboard space for this would be useful. And lifting up the vac to use as a handheld is slightly heavier than previous models because of the enlarged dust tank although it's not too uncomfortable.

Value for money
Though this vacuum aced our tests with a five-star rating, we've placed it lower down in our rankings due to its high price tag. To put it simply, if money’s no object, buy the Dyson Outsize: you won’t be disappointed. The run time and power controls are the stars of the show here when it comes to getting a return on your investment. 

Our Dyson Outsize review has the full details.

How we test cordless vacuums

At Ideal Home, we know how important it is to have hands-on experience with the products we recommend to you in our buying guides. That's why, as part of our testing protocol, we've tested every vacuum in this guide for at least two weeks (and at times up to two months) before coming to a decision on why you should buy it for your home. Our in-depth explainer on how we test vacuum cleaners has the full details. 

To get to that verdict, we put these vacuums up against various challenges, from everyday dirt and debris to scattered cereals and pet hair, so you know exactly what you will be getting from the model you choose. 

As well as allowing us to test out the suction, power and various features of this vacuum, we believe testing at home gives us the best chance of seeing how these picks fare in everyday life. Learning how easy these vacuums are to store, clean and use gives us a true idea of what it will be like for you to buy. Below you can read more about exactly which experts from the Ideal Home team have tested these vacuums::

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As well as allowing us to test out the suction, power and various features of this vacuum, we believe testing at home gives us the best chance of seeing how these picks fare in everyday life. Learning how easy these vacuums are to store, clean and use gives us a true idea of what it will be like for you to buy. Below you can read more about exactly which experts from the Ideal Home team have tested these vacuums.

Molly Cleary

Our Ecommerce Editor Molly oversees cleaning content at Ideal Home and is a certified Customer Advisor for vacuums after passing a five-stage process. She reviews vacuums at Future's dedicated testing facility, using a range of flooring types kindly provided by Flooring Superstore in order to evaluate performance on wood floor, lino and carpet.

She has also tested out a number of vacuums in her two-bedroom London flat including the Dyson Gen5, Shark Stratos, Numatic Henry Quick and the Hoover HF9.

Testing several of the vacuums included in this round-up has allowed her to see which model excels at which task, and to judge them on all of the crucial factors of suction, as well as ease of use and storage, which is important in her very compact space. She's also constantly looking out for the newest vacuum releases and technology so that she can keep you better informed on which appliance to buy. 

Is there any appliance that you'd like to see tested here? Get in touch at Molly's email address (molly.cleary@futurenet.com) to request for the Ideal Home team to review it. 

FAQs

We think these cordless vacuums are the very best on the market, and will make your cleaning schedule much easier to manage. From storage to accessories, we think there's bound to be an option in this list to suit you.