The best Dyson vacuums are known for their cutting-edge tech, sleek design and impressive suction. The innovative tech company made its name with a range of impressive vacuum cleaners, and while Dyson has now branched out into other products such as hairdryers and fans, the vacuums that made it famous are still very much worth a look.
We've tested a range of Dyson cordless vacuums and the list below is our pick of our favorites for a range of use cases, from wet-and-dry cleaning to robovacs. All the best cordless vacuums below have been rigorously tested in a range of scenarios, and boast effective pick-up and advanced or HEPA filtration.
Note that not all Dysons are available in all regions, and the tools on offer can vary between different iterations, so make sure you double check what's included before you buy. And if you want to check out the competition, see our best vacuum cleaner guide for outstanding options from all the leading brands.
Best Dyson vacuum cleaner: the quick list
Best overall
It's been around for a while, but the Dyson V11 is our top pick because it has all the features you're likely to need, it cleans well and it's relatively affordable.
Best premium
If money's no object, invest in the Dyson Gen5Detect. It has a powerful motor, a long battery life and even a dust-highlighting laser in its floor head.
Most affordable
Cheap by Dyson standards, the V8 is light and versatile, but its short battery life, small bin and power trigger (not a button) could prove irksome.
Best robot vacuum
If you're set on a robot vac and it has to be a Dyson, this is it. It's great at cleaning edges, but we're less keen on its limited features and high price.
Best vacuum and mop
Dyson's first wet-dry vacuum is your best bet for keeping hard floors clean, and it comes with a crevice tool for dealing with difficult-to-reach areas.
The best Dyson vacuums in 2024: rated by experts
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The best Dyson vacuum overall
The Dyson V11 is our pick as the best Dyson vacuum overall. It's not the newest Dyson vacuum, but we think it strikes a great balance between value for money and features, plus the range of tools make it great for vacuuming in tight spaces. It has a handy LCD screen, which tells you how much juice it has left, informs you which mode you're in and alters you of any blockages, plus how to clear them.
There are three suction modes: Eco for a lower-powered maximum cleaning time, Boost for when you need extra power and Auto, which adapts to the type of floor you're cleaning. In our tests, we found Auto to work particularly well, and even the supposedly lower-powered Eco was able to effectively deal with large amounts of debris and pet hair. Other features include a decent hour-long runtime (beaten by the newer Dyson Gen5detect at #2, which runs for a maximum of 70 minutes) and an easy-to-empty 0.77 liter bin. Although it lacks some of the features of the newer, more expensive Dyson Gen5detect and V15, the V11 is a solid cordless Dyson vacuum that most users will be more than happy with, and it's also more affordable than newer iterations. See how it compares to the model down in our Dyson V10 vs V11 article, and the model up in our Dyson V11 vs V15 Detect article.
Read our full Dyson v11 review
Best premium Dyson
If you want the best cordless stick Dyson that money can buy, then you'll want to look at the Gen5detect range – which includes the Gen5detect, plus the Gen5detect Complete, Outsize and Absolute – and boasts Dyson's most powerful cordless motor, running at 135,000rpm.
It has a power button rather than the trigger of older models, and a bigger battery that Dyson says lasts for 70 minutes, though we managed to squeeze 75 minutes out of it. Charging takes 4.5 hours according to Dyson, but again, our tests showed it to exceed expectations – it went from nothing to fully charged in only three hours.
You can turn the Gen5detect into a handheld with just a click, there's an integrated crevice tool for getting in hard to reach areas, an improved motor with 262 air watts of suction and a brighter and easier-to-see Fluffy Optic floor head laser, which highlights dust with precision.
It's not perfect, though. In our tests we found that the main cleaning heads weren't great at vacuuming edges, and the Gen5detect had a tendency to scatter rather than pick up smaller items, though this can be solved by placing it directly on top of dirt – not ideal as this model is noticeably heavy for a cordless stick vacuum.
The main deal-breaker for most will be the price, though. While the innovation and engineering go some way to justifying it, the fact remains that many of the extra features are nice-to-haves rather than essentials, and for many people it just won't be worth the extra cost. You can see how it matches up against the model down in our Dyson Gen5detect vs V15 Detect comparison. It's still a brilliant piece of machinery, though.
Read our full Dyson Gen5detect review
Best cheap Dyson
The V8 launched in 2016 and has dropped in price since then, making it the best cheap vacuum currently available if you have to have a Dyson. It's also the lightest model on this list and converts easily into a handheld, so it's ideal for cleaning stairs or the car.
At 40 minutes the battery life is shorter than others in this roundup, so the V8 is suited to those with smaller homes. We found the V8 to work particularly well on carpet in our tests, and if you want to get the best from it for hard floors, make sure you get the Soft Roller (or Fluffy) tool. The 0.54 liter bin is slightly smaller than others listed here and the V8 uses a trigger rather than a power button, which will be fine for most but isn't ideal if you have a wrist or hand injury.
Despite its age, the V8 has decent suction powered by two-tier radial cyclones and a motor spinning at 110,000rpm, Note that bargain hunters might also want to consider the Dyson Cyclone V10 – it boasts 125,000rpm so may be better value (see exactly how the two compare in our Dyson V8 vs V10 article).
Read our full Dyson V8 review
Best robot Dyson
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav is the only robovac Dyson currently offers. With 65 air watts of suction plus a motor that spins at 110,000rpm, it's impressively powerful for its size.
Our reviewer found it particularly good at vacuuming room edges and around furniture legs, thanks to an automatically extending side duct. It has four modes, Auto, Boost, Quiet and Quick, and while we found that the super-charged Boost tends to drain the battery (it lasted around 15 minutes), in Auto mode its performance really impressed.
There were, however, a few niggles. The D-shaped body doesn't really work around corners and the Dyson 360 Vis Nav lacks features offered by other best robot vacuums, such as mopping or self-emptying bin. Its navigation is also a little odd – it has a tendency to stop in the middle of a room, get its bearings and then carry on, which can be a bit disconcerting. But if you have money to spend, want a Dyson robot vacuum cleaner and you care about having super-clean edges of your rooms, then the 360 Vis Nav could be the vacuum for you.
Read our full Dyson 360 Vis Nav review
Best wet & dry Dyson
In 2023, Dyson finally announced its first wet-dry vacuum. With advanced HEPA filtration and a new Submarine wet roller head, the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine is adept at cleaning up a range of wet and dry spills.
The base model of the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine comes with a separate crevice tool for getting in hard to reach areas, which works brilliantly. Note that some versions of the Complete and Absolute iterations have this tool integrated, which our tester found didn't work as well. There's also an improved Fluffy Optic tool for cleaning hard floors, with an LED light rather than the laser of older Dysons, though again this isn't available with all models.
There are, however, a few flaws. We found the V15s Detect Submarine left some streaks when we paused while cleaning, though it was fine in continuous use. The dirty water tank can leak and the LED display only shows the clean water level, so it's hard to tell when the dirty liquid is filling up. Dyson has addressed this issue in its dedicated wet cleaner Dyson WashG1, which has transparent water tanks (but note, that one is not suitable for carpets).
Overall, if you want a Dyson for keeping your hard floors clean then this model is very efficient, though we hope to see its flaws mentioned addressed in future models.
Read our full Dyson V15s Detect Submarine review
What do the different Dyson naming conventions mean?
Dyson's naming models can be a little confusing. For each model, there's a standard iteration, ie. Gen5detect, and then there are different model names i.e. Gen5detect Outsize/Absolute, which denote variations in tools, attachments, size or where the product is available. Note that these names can also be combined i.e. Outsize Absolute. The main ones are:
Absolute: Absolute Dysons are usually only sold via Dyson's website and include special accessories/features such as extra heads/advanced HEPA filtering. They may also be a special color.
Outsize: As the name suggests, Outsize Dysons are bigger than standard ones, with bigger bins and wider floor heads. You can also get a Plus option (or sometimes Outsize Plus), which comes with extra heads/tools. Outsize iterations are typically not available in the UK.
Slim: This one is also fairly self-explanatory, Slim denotes slimmer variations of Dyson.
Animal: Animal Dysons include accessories such as the pet groom tool, which picks up hair from medium/long-haired pets.
Whichever version you choose, make sure you look carefully at what's included, as this can vary between regions and some attachments are only available direct from Dyson.
How we test Dyson vacuum cleaners
The best Dyson vacuum cleaners get subjected to the same rigorous testing regime that we apply to all the vacuums we review. We start off by evaluating how well each vacuum cleaner performs at picking up fine dust and larger debris, as well as testing how well the main floorhead (and any appropriate attachments) cope with hair. We also test all included accessories, as well as taking measurements of how much noise each vacuum makes at all power settings.
To test the batteries of cordless vacuums we'll run each machine continuously at both its lowest and highest power settings, and measure exactly how long it takes for the battery to run out. We also measure how long it takes for the battery to fully recharge.
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