The Best Vacuum for Pet Hair—We Tested Many to Find Which Ones Work Best (2026)
Cordless, handheld, robot, and traditional—we tested them all to find the vacuum that’s fantastic for fur.
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A Corded Handheld Vacuum for Pet Hair
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Photograph: Molly Higgins
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Courtesy of Amazon
Simplicity Vacuums
Flash Mini Handheld Vacuum
This handheld vacuum gets power through an electrical cord, which I'm not usually the biggest fan of since it limits mobility around the house. But, it's one of the most powerful and efficient handheld vacuums I've ever tested. It has a 2-foot-long flexible hose to suck up pet fur and dander in hard-to-reach places, and comes with a myriad of attachments like a crevice tool (with an optional brush tip), upholstery brush, and dusting brush. I loved the attachments, which helped to brush fur up, and the hose helped me suck up hair that had settled in hard-to-reach spots.
This small but mighty vacuum was able to suck up embedded fur in multiple high- and low-pile carpets around the house that others I've tested weren't able to. It has dual filters, a washable dust cup filter for larger debris, and a foam exhaust filter for finer particles like dust and dander, which can lead to pet allergy symptoms. The vacuum is quite loud and a little clunky, but I was seriously impressed with its ability to efficiently vacuum up all types of pet hair, dander, dust, and other ickies.
Capacity:
3 pounds
Attachments:
24 inch flexible stretch hose, crevice tool and brush tip, upholstery brush, dusting brush
Power:
Corded (14 feet), 600-watt power
Run time:
N/A
Filter:
Dust cup and foam exhaust filter
Warranty:
90 days
WIRED/TIRED
WIRED
- Powerfully sucks up embedded fur
- Long hose and attachments
TIRED
- Clunky
- Corded
- Loud
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Compare Our Picks
WIRED
TIRED
Capacity
Attachments
Power
Run time
Filter
Warranty
Dyson's top-of-the-line stick vac with a faster motor and brighter laser to spot dust and debris; powerful HEPA filter
Louder than the V15 Detect
0.2 gallons
Hair screw tool, combination crevice tool, dusting tool, Fluffy Optic cleaner head, Digital Motorbar cleaner head.
262 air watts; 280 watts in max mode
70 minutes
Whole-machine HEPA filtration
2 years, parts and labor
Front headlight for visibility; mini vacuum head FurFinder Tool
N/A
0.5 liters
Mini vacuum head; crevice tool with brush extension
200 watts
Up to 40 minutes (usually around 20 minutes)
HEPA filter; HEPA Sealed Allergen System
5 years, limited
Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus
Powerful suction with two cyclonic airstreams, and a motorized self-cleaning power brush
Short run time
0.45 quarts
Pet brush, scrubbing brush, and crevice tool
80 watts
About 15 minutes
Fabric filter
2 years, limited
Effective attachments
Hair gets tangled in the bar
0.7 liters
Motorized brush, crevice tool, upholstery tool
14.4-volt lithium-ion battery
Up to 17 minutes
3-stage filter: prefilter, H13 HEPA filter, motor filter
1 year, limited
Has own with multi-floor mapping, using its StarSight Autonomous System 2.0 with lidar, ToF sensors, RBG cameras, and AI
N/A
270 milliliters on robot, 2 liters on dock
N/A
6400-mAh lithium-ion battery
3 hours
E11 high-efficiency washable filter
1 year
Comes with attachments designed for pet hair in carpet and upholstery; stands up by itself
Is a corded model; heavy and loud
0.45 gallon
Tangle-free turbine tool, Grooming tool, Combination tool, and Stair tool
290 air watts
N/A
Whole-machine filtration
2 years, parts and labor
Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Allergen Lift-Off Vacuum
Easy assembly and emptying; sucked up deeply embedded fur and dust from high-pile carpet; super powerful mini rotating upholstery tool
Corded
1 liter
Dust/crevice brush; Turboeraser upholstery tool
120 volts
N/A
HEPA filter; HEPA Sealed Allergen System
5 years, limited
Self empties; works excellently on carpet
Doesn't work as well on hard floors
3.5 Liters
Crevice and combination tools, mini motorized brush, extension hose, attachment clip
180 AW (air watts)
Up to 70 minutes on low
5-stage HEPA filtration system
2 years
Simplicity Vacuums Flash Mini Handheld Vacuum
Powerfully sucks up embedded fur; long hose and many attachments
Clunky; corded; loud
3 pounds
24 inch flexible stretch hose, crevice tool and brush tip, upholstery brush, dusting brush
Corded (14 feet), 600 watt power
N/A
Dust cup and foam exhaust filter
90 days
Others Tested
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Tineco Go Pet Cordless Vacuum for $176: As when I tested the Tineco Go Mini ($130) for my handheld vacuums guide, I was a bit underwhelmed by this vacuum specifically for pets. It has a slot for easy brush removal if hair gets stuck around the bars, which is a helpful thing to have when you’re dealing with pet (and human) hair. The lever and the angle of the lid for emptying are counterintuitive, and the first few times I emptied it, the debris went everywhere. It’s hard to distinguish between eco and power modes, and the vac blinked red and the brush stopped rotating when transitioning between surfaces. (It especially had a hard time on my thin runner rug.) It felt a bit heavier and clunkier than others as well. But, it does have handy lights to illuminate debris and comes with attachments to make handheld cleaning a breeze.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Mova P50 Pro Ultra Robot Vacuum for $589: This robot vacuum-mop combo has extendable side brush and mop pads to reach tight corners, a self-emptying dock station that empties dust and debris, and self-cleans and dries mop pads. It also uses an RGB camera and “intelligent dirt detection system” whose sensors identify messes to clean deeper and avoid objects on the ground. The robovac generates 3D maps of your home, and identifies things like furniture and even pets. Through the app, you can customize cleanings, and there’s also synced video and voice interaction to allow you to talk to your pets, schedule cleanings, and more, and it is compatible with smart home devices Alexa and Google Home. When first mapping my small apartment, the vac didn’t want to go past certain rooms, and it took several days to get it to create a complete cleaning map. It has a hard time going over small thresholds, eventually avoiding cleaning the rooms altogether, and has thrown itself off my stairs twice, causing the mop pads to pop off. Despite having intelligent object detection, it still often tried to suck up or roll over small objects on the ground, like shoes and pet toys. I love that this combo vac-mop self-cleans and empties, but for nearly $1,000, I wish the smart features were smarter and the mapping was more accurate.
Dyson Car + Boat Handheld Vacuum for $250: Former WIRED reviewer Brenda Stolyar liked this handheld vacuum, designed specifically for sucking up dirt and debris from your car and boat, plus bedding, furniture, and other awkward spaces. (Read our full review here).
Hoover HL4 Pet Upright Vacuum Cleaner for £130: While it is only available in the UK, Hoover’s HL4 successfully removed lots of cat hair from my home. I live with a trio of cats, two of them long-haired, so a powerful vacuum is essential. The HL4 is sadly corded (7.6 meters), but at around 240 air watts it was powerful enough to lift dust and hair that my lightweight cordless vac and robot vac had missed. The smart design easily converts into a portable vacuum, and it comes with a pet tool and crevice tool. The pet tool proved adept at lifting hair from the couch, stairs, and cat beds, though it didn’t quite have the grunt to remove every strand. There’s a handy vent to reduce suction for mats and blankets. The 1.2-liter bin is easy to remove and empty, though not without releasing a dust cloud, and the Anti-Twist floor head seems to collect considerably less tangled hair than other vacuums. —Simon Hill
Not Recommended
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Eufy RoboVac 11S Max for $150: Our esteemed competitors at places like The Strategist and Wirecutter loved this cheap robovac, so I bought one for myself before moving into my new apartment with two cats. And I have to say, I don't agree with them. Yes, this robovac is significantly cheaper than most others and has generally good ratings, but I have nothing nice to say about it besides that it is able to go under furniture and suck up pet hair I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Its navigation system is random, it doesn't have an app (but it does come with a remote control to direct it to a specific spot or schedule cleanings), it’s loud, and it tends to be attracted to cords. It has extreme difficulty traversing even minor height differences, like the small panel of wood between the hallway and bathroom door. But most of all, it is needlessly hard to empty the bin, and nearly impossible to detangle all of the hair and fur from the bar or spinning brush beneath. There’s gross hair that will probably still be wrapped around the mechanism until the day I am put into the ground. This cursed thing will outlive us all, I fear.
How We Tested
I tested these pet hair vacuums for a week if not more (I’ve been using both the Dyson cordless and handheld for months now), and I’ve used them on nearly every surface in my house—including the cat trees and behind my two cats’ litter box. When testing began, I lived in a large house with three cats and a dog (more hair in a larger area), and for the latter half of testing, I lived with two cats in a small apartment (slightly less hair in a smaller area with less places for hair to hide).
I also tested every attachment on problem areas like carpeted stairs, crevices of air vents, a high-pile rug, and hardwood floors. Not all pet hair vacuums are created alike, and they vary quite a bit in their effectiveness on different surfaces and with different attachments. I set these up, charged ’em, and vacuumed with them until they died, noting run time, power, effectiveness, and ease of emptying the bin and cleaning the filter.
What to Look For
It seems like a lot of brands will slap the words “pet hair” onto a product and market it as such without really specifying why or how it’s effective for pet hair. Of course, I tested those to see if they put their metaphorical vac mouths where their money was. On the flip side, I also tested some that were well rated for overall efficacy but not marketed toward pets—like the Roborock Saros 10R, a pricey robovac that uses AI mapping and can identify pets nearby and quiet its motor.
Speaking of, vacuums and pets are inherently antithetical. Vacuums are a necessary evil to combat pet hair, but your pets will likely be scared of them. If my cat Basil had opposable thumbs, I know he’d be leaving hate comments on this article. Aside from the robovac picks (which for some reason my cats don’t mind), my cat Basil had a mild cardiac event each time I tested the other vacs on this list. So along with effectiveness and suction, I also took into consideration loudness, as well as how easy the product is to handle.
Generally though, when shopping for a pet hair vacuum, look for suction power, bin capacity, attachments, and type of bristle or Motorbar—figure out what’s going to be doing the actual picking up of dust, dander, and pet hair. I found that conical bars like the ones on certain Dyson models work well to not get tangled, and dual brushes like on the Ryobi work together to effectively pick up more. Also read reviews from real people with real, furry pets, but know that no two pets are alike. Take into consideration what kind of shedder you live with, and what type of space needs cleaning; a robovac may not be best for a house with multiple flights of carpeted stairs.
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