The 9 Best HEPA Vacuums for 2023 for Tackling Dust, Pollen, and Bacteria in Your Home

Best Overall

Shark Wandvac Self-Empty System

4.3

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The Shark Wandvac Self-Empty System makes it easy to avoid touching the dustbin and the inevitable dust clouds that ensue. When you set the vacuum on the base after cleaning your home, the system efficiently removes all of the debris and dust particles from the vacuum all by itself (while also charging the device). This means you won’t have to worry about touching the dirt and grime your vacuum just picked up. 

The self-empty base can hold up to 30 days’ worth of debris sealed inside, minimizing the number of times you need to empty it. Also, the HEPA H-10 filter is washable, allowing you to reuse the same filter multiple times without buying a replacement. 

The vacuum has strong suction power to pick up dirt, pollen, hair, and crumbs on all floor types with ease. We love the self-cleaning brush roll, which  picks up hair from your floor without getting tangled. Additionally, the silicone fins on the brush roll allow it to maintain close contact with your floors, churning up debris and sucking it away without damaging your hard floors. 

We also like that you can convert it to a handheld vacuum that weighs just 2.1 pounds, making it easier to clean tight crevices, staircases, and upholstery. Attachments include a duster crevice tool for tight spaces and a pet multi-tool designed to get rid of pet hair on floors and upholstery.   

Keep in mind that this vacuum’s battery life is quite short at just 16 minutes. That means you won’t be able to clean your entire home in one charge; instead, you’ll likely need to clean one room at a time or spot clean larger spaces. We don’t recommend this vacuum to anyone with a large house, as it may be a hassle to re-charge your device halfway through completing a room. 

Price at time of publish: $329

Product Details: Weight:  13.85 pounds with self-emptying base | Battery Runtime: 16.5 minutes | Number of attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.13 quarts

Best Budget

Greenworks 24V Brushless Cordless Stick Vacuum

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The Greenworks 24V Cordless Vacuum Cleaner provides a high quality clean that effectively removes dirt, hair, pollen, and more from your floors. It uses a washable HEPA filter to trap very fine debris caught in the fibers of your carpet and the cracks in your floorboards, resulting in a truly deep clean. Additionally, the dust collection bin can be emptied with a single press of a button, so you can dump out its contents without having to reach inside the bin. The vacuum cleaner a strong suction power with three power modes, so you can adjust the suction depending on the floor type or the type of debris you’re trying to remove. 

With a runtime of 45 minutes, this vacuum will allow you to clean multiple rooms at a time without running out of battery. When you do need to recharge, the vacuum has a surprisingly fast 30-minute recharging time, compared to the several hours it takes most other vacuum cleaners. The floor brush has LED lights to help you see into dark places like under your couch and illuminate hard-to-see dirt on your floors.

There’s also an LED touch display on the handle to let you view the power mode and remaining battery time, as well as any error messages that may appear as you clean. Accessories include a crevice tool for tight corners, a two-in-one round brush, a soft-bristle fur brush for pet hair, and a deep-cleaning motorized brush for heavy-duty cleaning. 

Note that, while this vacuum comes with a wall mount to store your device when not in use, it has to be drilled into a wall to use it. If you don’t want to do this, you’ll have to lean your vacuum against a wall or order a separate charging stand from Greenworks. 

Price at time of publish:  $260

Product Details: Weight: 5.1 pounds | Cord Length or Battery Runtime: 45 minutes | Number of attachments:  Four | Bin Capacity: Not listed

Best Handheld

Black+Decker Three-in-One Vacuum

3.3

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The Black + Decker Three-in-One Vacuum is our choice for the best handheld HEPA vacuum because it’s such a versatile cleaning tool. When paired with the crevice tool in handheld mode, you can reach into cracks and corners in your car, clean between couch cushions, and remove cobwebs from hard-to-reach spots in your home. With the small brush attachment, you’ll be able to rapidly clean stairs, blinds, and soft surfaces like your sofa. 

As a stick vacuum, the Black + Decker Three-in-One vacuum can also clean carpets and hard floors with ease. It’s self-standing, so it won’t topple over if left on its own. At just 3.6 pounds, the vacuum is lightweight and easy to maneuver around your couch, coffee table, or other obstacles.

The HEPA filter captures pet dander, pollen, and other types of airborne particles. It’s also washable under running water, which makes the vacuum easy to clean and maintain. The 0.2-gallon dustbin can be emptied directly into the trash, which is a good size for a handheld vacuum, but a bit small for a stick vac.

Unfortunately, this vacuum only has a 10-foot cord, which can be rather limiting when you’re trying to clean a large room or one with very few outlets. Keep this in consideration as you shop for the best HEPA vacuums for your home. 

Price at time of publish: $50

Product Details: Weight:  3.6 pounds | Battery Life:  N/A | Number of attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.2 gallons

Best Cordless

Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum with Clean Sense IQ

3.3

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The Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum with Clean Sense IQ uses an anti-allergen complete seal with true HEPA filtration. It also has a built-in odor neutralizer that lasts up to 6 months to keep those awful smells inside of your vacuum from leaking out into your home. The cordless vacuum has a 60-minute runtime before the battery needs to be recharged, which is plenty of time to clean an entire floor of most homes. 

The vacuum’s built-in technology detects debris in your floors that are invisible to the naked eye, then boosts suction power accordingly. This means you won’t waste battery power on areas of your floors that are relatively clean, while grimy sections of your home will get the deep-clean they truly need. The LED display provides battery status, and suction level information on the front of the nozzle.

This powerful stick vacuum has flexible power fins on the brush roll to help it deep-clean your high-pile carpet without damaging your hard floors. The self-cleaning brushroll prevents hair from wrapping around and getting trapped, so you won’t have to cut hair out of the bottom of the vacuum after every cleaning session. 

However, our favorite feature about this cordless vacuum is its jointed wand, which allows you to bend the wand and reach beneath coffee tables, chairs, and more with ease. The wand can also be folded over to take up less storage space when not in use, making it friendly for small and large homes alike. Accessories include a duster crevice tool for reaching tight corners and and the anti-allergen dusting brush for cleaning upholstery.

At 8.09 pounds, this vacuum is quite lightweight and easy to maneuver for a full-sized pick. However, due to its jointed design, it can be a little top-heavy, making it prone to tipping over when not in use. 

Price at time of publish: $500

Product Details: Weight:  8.09 pounds | Battery Runtime: 60 minutes | Number of attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.72 quarts

Best Heavy-Duty

Dyson Ball Multi-Floor Vacuum

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If you suffer from allergies, keeping your home free of allergens like dust, bacteria, pollen, and more can help alleviate your symptoms. The Dyson Ball Multi Floor Vacuum is certified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and uses whole-machine filtration to capture dust and keep it inside of the machine. The lifetime HEPA filter can be washed and reused, eliminating additional costs. 

One of our favorite features of the Dyson Ball Multi-Floor Vacuum is its soft-adjusting cleaner head. When you’re moving from carpet to hard floors (and vice versa), the active base plate automatically raises and lowers accordingly to seal the machine and keep debris from escaping. The stiff nylon bristles help it churn up dust, crumbs, and hair caught in the fibers of your carpet for thorough cleaning. 

It's also quite easy to empty the dust bin; just push the button to release the contents into the trash. Although this is our heavy-duty choice—it weighs 17.37 pounds—it isn’t hard to maneuver. The ball makes it easy to navigate your vacuum around sharp corners and bulky furniture. There’s also an instant-release high-reach wand, which makes it simple to transition to handheld mode, and the wand helps extend the 35-feet cord to give the vacuum a total reach of 50 feet. 

The hose and wand are also helpful when using the stair tool attachment on long staircases, and the combination tool can be used to get into tight spaces. Keep in mind that its bulkier size and weight means you’ll need to put a little more pressure on the vacuum to push it across your floors; it may not be a good fit for people with mobility issues. 

Price at time of publish: $339

Product Details: Weight: 17.37 pounds | Cord Length: 35 feet | Number of Attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.52 gallons

Best for Pets

Tineco Pure One S15 Pet Vacuum

4.8

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Keeping your home spotless while owning pets can seem like a never-ending task. The Tineco Pure ONE S15 Pet Vacuum makes light work of cleaning pet hair, dander, dirt, and more from your home thanks to its five-stage filtration system. This system includes a main cyclone for large particles, a mesh filter, a pure cyclone to separate air and dust, a pre-filter to block fine dust, and a HEPA filter. The HEPA filter can be washed to clean it, so you won’t have to keep buying new filters every few months.  

The strong suction works to pull in and trap debris and also separate air and dust, which helps to keep the filter clean for a longer period of time and also helps to maintain suction. Additionally, the brush has V-shaped bristles and a dual comb system to lift and vacuum pet hair without it getting tangled in the machine. 

The Tineco Pure One S15 Pet vacuum also uses a sensor to adjust the suction power based on the level of dirt or soil detected for more efficient cleaning. In addition, the brush head has an LED headlight to help you see into dark corners and when vacuuming pet hair and debris under furniture. 

The LCD screen shows when debris is detected or cleared, and it also shows the selected mode and battery time remaining. Attachments include a mini-power brush to vacuum pet hair from pet beds and furniture, a two-in-one dust brush for cleaning other surfaces in your home, and a crevice tool to get into tight spaces. The vacuum cleaner is free-standing, making it super easy to store when not in use.

A single button provides contactless emptying of the dustbin, though for the price, we wish it had self-emptying features. You may need to reach inside the dustbin and unclog hairs or dense debris that gets caught. 

Price at time of publish: $449

Product Details: Weight: 6.8 pounds | Battery Runtime:  40 minutes | Number of Attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.47 gallons

Best Upright

BISSELL MultiClean Allergen Lift-Off Pet Vacuum

4.3

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The Bissell MultiClean Allergen Lift-Off Pet has a HEPA-sealed allergen system to trap dust, debris, and allergen and keep it from being released back into the air. The pre-motor filter is reusable and can be cleaned in the sink, making it easy to ensure your vacuum remains unclogged and effective, but the HEPA filter will need to be replaces, unlike other options on this list.

The vacuum cleaner uses a tangle-free brush roll to clean hair and other debris from hard floors and carpets while minimizing hair getting wrapped around the brush roll. Its swivel head makes it easy to maneuver furniture and obstacles, and the lights on the front help locate every last crumb on your floors. We like the lift-off detachable canister and hose, which make it easy to clean stairs, upholstery, or the inside of your car.

There are also two specialized tools included: first, the Pet TurboEraser Tool attaches to the end and uses a spinning paddle brush to help remove hair from upholstery and other items. The two-in-one crevice tool and dusting brush provide additional functionality for cleaning your home.

At 15.5 pounds, this upright vacuum is quite heavy and can be difficult to maneuver. Its wide profile makes it great for covering large surface areas in very little time, but it’s hard to navigate around tight spaces. For this reason, we don’t recommend it to someone with a tight floor plan or lots of furniture. 

Price at time of publish: $237

Product Details: Weight: 15.7 pounds | Cord Length: 30 feet | Number of attachments: Two | Bin Capacity: 0.2 gallons

Best Robot Vacuum

Shark AI Ultra Two-in-One Self-Empty Robot Vacuum

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Stay on top of cleaning your carpet, rugs, and hard floors even when you aren’t home with a powerful robot vacuum with a built-in HEPA filter. We love the Shark AI Ultra Two-in-One Robot Vacuum, which has a HEPA self-emptying base that can hold up to 60 days of dust and debris. This means it’ll navigate around your home and clean everything in its path before automatically docking itself and emptying the contents into the bin. 

This pick has a lot of smart features to make it even easier to use. First, it maps your home to customize how it cleans, so it won't miss sections of your space once it's done it's initial clean. You can connect the vacuum to your smartphone, allowing you to use the SharkClean App to control where it goes, schedule cleanings for certain times or days, and tell the robot vacuum to avoid specific rooms. 

It has powerful suction and can vacuum both carpets and hard floors. The vacuum even has a mopping feature that scrubs floors to clean up spills from hard floors like tile, hardwood, and linoleum. We love that the microfiber mopping pads are washable, so you won’t have to constantly restock.

Keep in mind that robot vacuums won’t deep-clean your home as well as other devices on our list of the best HEPA vacuums. While the Shark AI Ultra Two-in-One Self-Empty Robot Vacuum is a great day-to-day cleaning tool, you’ll still want to deep-clean your carpet every few weeks to remove the debris your robotic device missed.  

Price at time of publish: $700

Product Details: Weight: 14.5 pounds | Battery Runtime: 120 minutes | Number of Attachments: None | Bin Capacity:  0.26 gallons