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Over the past few years we’ve tested 14 top-rated models to find the best robot vacuum for keeping a kitchen floor free of crusty bread crumbs, coffee grounds, and wayward sprinkles. But we’re also pet owners who sometimes eat chips in the living room, so we’re equally interested in robovacs that can pick up dust, debris, and pet hair from the rest of the house. The robot vacuum that meets all of our needs and then some—and at a relatively reasonable price to boot—is the recently released Roborock Q5 Pro+ Robot Vacuum and Mop.
If it’s been a few years since you shopped for a robot vacuum (it had been for us), forget everything you think you know about these cordless, self-propelled floor cleaners. They’re smarter than they used to be; they have more suction power; and it’s no longer a luxury for a robot to auto-empty on a charging dock. In fact, it’s quite common. And though they’re pretty rudimentary (especially compared to what you get in a mop vac), built-in mopping functions are also becoming more standard. The point is: These are not your father’s robot vacuums.
The best robot vacuum: Roborock Q5 Pro+ Robot Vacuum and Mop
The new Roborock Q5 Pro+ quickly and quietly cleaned floors better than any other model we’ve tested. Released in October 2023, it’s an upgrade to the brand’s popular Q5+ model with double the suction power and the addition of a simple but functional mop. While it’s a bit of a stretch to call a wet microfiber pad a “mop,” it’s a welcome feature that helps to pick up what a vacuum alone would leave behind, and with the combination of floor-cleaning functions, this robot vacuum-mop combo left our hard floors so clean that we had fewer occasions to bust out the mop vac.
This Roborock also has superior mapping capabilities, an easy-to-use app, and a more compact docking station than similar self-emptying robot vacuum cleaners. Its suction on rugs is comparable to the best Roombas we’ve tested, and in less than 10 minutes it created a more accurate floor plan than any of its competitors in the companion app. Dividing, merging, and re-naming rooms in the map is intuitive, as is adding and adjusting the size and position of common furniture items. You can also use the app to set up custom cleaning routines for specific rooms. For example, you can create a one-touch preset to clean the kitchen and dining room with extra suction power after meals, or send it to clean up the living room after movie night. If you have a smart home and would like to connect to Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa for voice commands, you can do that too.
In an effort to narrow down our top picks, we stomped a graham cracker into a kilim rug in the dining room and programmed three robots to use maximum suction in that room only. Both the Shark and Roomba Combo we tested against this model scooted around the dining room but managed to completely miss the graham cracker crumbs. The Roborock Q5 Pro+ was the only model that sucked it up (though it did leave some very fine graham cracker dust behind).
There’s not much we didn’t like about this robot vacuum. One small complaint is that there’s no water refill tank inside the charging dock; for each clean you fill a pancake-thin water reservoir on the robot, which is where you also attach the microfiber mop pad. The docking station also requires some very basic assembly, but it’s as simple as tightening six small screws and the necessary tool is included.
How we tested robot vacuums
Quite a bit of research goes into selecting test-worthy items for our product reviews at Epicurious, and to narrow down our selections we look at what people are searching for, specs, price, and availability. We also read negative customer reviews—especially on trending gear—because that feedback can often alert us to long-term durability issues, as well as how people expect a particular product to perform. For the most recent update to this review, we looked at popular highly-rated robot vacuums with particular interest in features that people would find helpful in the kitchen. and we didn’t bother testing the very low-budget robot vacuums with a ton of low ratings. User reviews tend to skew positive (people want to like the thing they just paid hundreds of dollars for), so if something has overwhelmingly negative reviews it’s almost certainly not going to be a contender.
Once we received each robo vac we set it up noting how much, if any assembly was required. We connected each vacuum to its companion app using Wi-Fi, and after a full charge on the docking station, we let each robot do a mapping run (on most models this is when the robot roams the house and uses its mapping technology to make an actual map of your home’s floor plan in the app but doesn’t use any suction).
Because it is now standard for robot vacuums to make a visual floor plan in the companion app—theoretically allowing the user to customize cleaning by room and indicate no-go zones—we spent quite a bit of time in each app. We evaluated the accuracy of the floor plans, attempted to merge or divide rooms when the mapping was inaccurate, and correctly labeled each room.
We then sent each robot out on a full cycle, letting it vacuum (and, if applicable, also mop) a day’s worth of dog hair, old-house dust, and a deliberate sprinkling of kosher salt on the kitchen floor. We noted how well it cleaned up the messes in its path, how loud or quiet it was, how often and where it got stuck, and how clean the edges and corners were when it was done. This gave us a sense of how well the suction, object recognition, and dirt detection of each machine performed. We also looked at how easily the robot vacuum returned to its docking station and if the self-emptying models actually auto-emptied.
Once we’d narrowed down our choices, we tested the spot-cleaning ability of our favorites by sending them out on two room-specific cleaning jobs. First, we sent them to clean flour and coffee grounds from the kitchen floor, followed by a trip to the dining room to clean smashed graham crackers from a flatweave rug.
What we looked for
We looked for a robot vacuum that’s relatively easy to use out of the box, required little to no assembly, and wasn't confusing to operate right from the beginning.
Every robot vacuum we tested allowed for Wi-Fi connectivity and remote control from a companion app on a mobile device like an Apple iPhone, so we looked for apps that connected easily and effectively controlled the robot, produced maps that were simple to understand and edit the map, and could schedule cleaning ahead of time.
The technology required to get a robot to do even a basic run around your home, avoiding obstacles and getting stuck, is no joke. The technology is similar to that of self-driving cars. Most robot vacuums are equipped with bump sensors and drop sensors that help identify obstacles. The newest models come with camera navigation systems. These vacuums have complex mapping technology that allows them to make a complete layout of your house and follow the logic of it, though they sometimes struggle in dim lighting.
With its piecemeal flooring, wonky thresholds, and far-from-open floor plan, a century-old bungalow was the perfect testing ground for robot vacuum cleaners. We were able to see how well each performed on hardwood floors, shaggy and low-pile rugs, and a textured black kitchen floor. There’s also a stairway off of the kitchen that offered plenty of opportunity for the vacuum cleaners to teeter.
Robot vacuums, even the good ones, do tend to get stuck on cords, rug corners, and between the legs of tables and chairs. Sometimes they even like to teeter at the top of the stairs calling out for help and losing battery life. You'll probably find that before operating your robot vac you need to pick up or tuck away objects that it's likely to get stuck on (some manuals recommend tucking rug fringe under the rug). We looked for vacuums that could avoid these roadblocks if possible.
While we didn’t watch the clock to see how quickly each robot’s battery ran down, we did look for one that could clean the common areas of a modest-sized home in a single cleaning session.
In general, robot vacuums have small bins that need to be emptied more frequently than conventional vacuums. When we tested robot vacuums in 2020, we looked for a vacuum that could complete an entire cleaning cycle for a moderately dirty house, or more than one, without needing to be emptied (while still sucking up plenty of dirt, of course). In 2023 most of the vacuums we tested had a self-emptying feature on the charging dock, which means less hands-on maintenance for the user.
Last, but certainly not least, we wanted a robot vacuum that would effectively clean up our floors. Even if it has excellent mapping features and moves around without getting stuck, a robot vacuum is useless if it doesn’t effectively suck up what it’s supposed to. So to assess a vacuum’s overall cleaning power, we closely inspected the cleanliness of the floors after each run, paying special attention to the corners and edges that constantly collect old-house dust and dog hair. To get a sense of suction power, we put each vacuum through a couple of spot or single-zone tests, purposefully placing debris on a textured kitchen floor and stomping a cracker into a low-pile dining room rug.
Other robot vacuums we tested
The Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni had the best mopping capabilities of any robot floor cleaner we’ve tested. Period. While the others dragged around a damp crescent-shaped microfiber mop pad, the T20 Omni has two shaggy spinning microfiber pads that protrude a bit from the body of the robot and clean hard floors with hot water, as well as with an optional cleaning solution. This smart robot works with Google Home and Alexa and has four settings: vacuum only, mop only, vacuum before mopping, or vacuum and mop simultaneously. In the combo mode it automatically detects rugs and carpeting to lift and pause the mop pads. Upon returning to its self-cleaning base, the robot cleans its own mop pads with more hot water, and the dirty water ends up in a very easy to empty dirty-water tank. But too many other issues and a high price point kept this model out of our top picks. First off, it’s huge! It arrived in a box the size of a mini fridge, and the cleaning station isn’t much smaller at nearly two feet tall, 18 inches wide, and 11 inches deep (you can add another five inches for the docking tray that sticks out from the base). The mapping was a bit erratic; we couldn’t find a way to edit the rooms once it had mapped them; and it had trouble clearing some wonky thresholds. Over the course of multiple runs, it also left little dog hair dreadlocks around the house, and we realized that the dust bin on the robot was clogged and so it had never actually auto-emptied into the base station.
If you want a self-emptying robot vacuum but don’t want to bother with any kind of wet mop feature, the Shark Detect Pro Self-Emptying Robot (RV2800AE) was one of the best vacuums we tested this year. It’s a new-and-improved version of a previous top pick, the Shark IQ, and of all the self-emptying models we tested for this update, the Shark Detect Pro is the only one that collects debris into a bin instead of a disposable vacuum bag. It’s relatively loud, but it passed most of our tests with flying colors and did a great job of picking up dog hair, even in edges and corners. In fact, the Shark Detect Pro collected so much on its first run that it returned to its base to empty the dust bin mid-session before heading right back out. This robot also had no issues navigating between floor types or clearing challenging thresholds; it never once tried to hurl itself down the stairs; and it mapped an accurate floor plan on the first try. The compact base has a HEPA filter as well as a refillable odor neutralizer to keep the docking station from stinking up your house. Though it’s impressive on a whole-house cleaning session, we were disappointed when we set a very specific routine to see if it would clean up the graham cracker we’d stomped into a rug, and it skipped that spot completely. That dirt-detection oversight, combined with the absence of even a basic mopping feature kept it out of our top picks this year.
iRobot was first on the cordless robot vacuum scene with its revolutionary Roomba and has remained a top choice for affordable robot vacuums. Unfortunately, the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+—the brand’s most recent foray into a high-tech, do-it-all robot vacuum-mop combo—didn’t impress us as much as some of its competitors. Overall, it’s a cool device. It has impressive suction power, a stationary mopping function, and an aesthetically pleasing black docking station that allows the robot to auto-empty and refill the water tank as necessary. Smart-home users can enable voice control to direct the robot with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, and you can also use the app to set different cleaning preferences for each room. That said, we found that the app wasn’t that intuitive and we initially had issues editing the map, customizing cleaning routines, and deciphering the error messages. When we eventually managed to set this robot to clean a specific area—sending it on a vacuum-only run to the dining room with high suction—it spent 30 minutes buzzing around the perimeter and somehow managed to completely avoid the graham cracker we’d stomped into the kilim rug. Finally, even with obstacle avoidance turned on, it managed to run into feet under the dining room table so we’re somewhat skeptical of its ability to avoid other surprises.
This bare bones Roomba is the only robot vacuum cleaner we tested this year that doesn’t have a self-emptying base. If you’re super short on space, or just want a no-frills option that vacuums and does nothing else, the iRobot Roomba i4 EVO could be the robot vacuum for you, especially considering iRobot’s reputation for making durable, reliable cleaning robots. Its low profile allows it to go under furniture and appliances that pricier models with more technology and top cameras can’t reach, and while you can connect it to the app to customize and schedule cleaning, you could also get by with skipping the app connection altogether and using the button to manually send it out on an as-needed basis. Because it doesn’t auto-empty into a docking station, it requires more hands-on maintenance than similarly priced robot vacuums, and if you don’t get it on sale, it’s kind of expensive for something with so few features. Additionally, as of publishing, the iRobot Roomba i4 EVO was unavailable on the iRobot site, and Amazon’s inventory was dwindling.
One of the main selling points of the self-emptying Samsung Jet Bot AI+ is its super-smart object recognition. This vacuum uses LiDAR (light detection and ranging) navigation and a camera that you can also use to monitor your house remotely in the app. As a vacuum (as opposed to, say, a spy) it quickly and impressively works its straight nose into corners and around the legs of tables and chairs. But the app isn’t as intuitive as others, and it took a long time to figure out how to edit rooms after the mapping run. It also tried to hurl itself down a set of stairs more than once. We’re willing to chalk some of that up to a black kitchen floor, so the AI may have had a harder time differentiating between a dark surface and a dip, but it continued to happen even after we put down the included magnetic boundary tape. The last time it happened, the Jet Bot AI+ teetered on the edge of the top stair, crying out for help (and draining its battery) every few minutes for nearly two hours. Once we figured out how to edit the map, that particular threshold was marked as a no-go zone, but that’s not an error we’d expect from such a high-end robot vacuum. Yes, if you want to spy on your dog while you’re at work—and need a robot vacuum that can avoid its poop in case of an accident—the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ is worth considering. But if you just want something to clean the floors, it’s far too pricey for something that doesn’t also mop and falls down the stairs.
The no-frills iRobot Roomba 614 was our top pick in 2020 thanks to its durability, affordability, and long-term performance. We were impressed with its spot-cleaning abilities, especially for finer messes like dust and flour. It’s super easy to set up; simply plug it in, let it charge, and set it on its cleaning path. However, as with comparable older models, it has a fair number of issues. It gets stuck easily, and the navigation is lacking. As of publication it appears to be dwindling in stock too, but the similar though slightly more advanced iRobot Roomba 694 is an available and more affordable alternative worth considering
This was the only self-emptying robot vacuum cleaner we tried when we tested robovacs in 2020. Though it requires lots of real estate on your floor, the base does add quite a bit of value to the robot-vacuum experience. Like the newer Shark we tested this year, this older model returned to its base to recharge and empty as needed, then got right back to work when ready. And like the newer Shark, this model is on the loud side (especially when the self-empty base gets going). It also wasn't the best at spot cleaning. Since spot cleaning felt particularly important for our purposes (kitchen spills), this stayed out of our top picks.
We love Miele’s canister vacuums, but the Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision robot vacuum we tested in 2020 left a lot to be desired. It looks like a small insect because its brushes rotate outward in front of the machine rather than underneath it. It was the most difficult of the bunch to set up, but it did win points for being one of the quietest vacuums. While it was the most thorough spot cleaner in our coffee test, picking up every last ground, it ended up missing flour in the grout of a tile floor and actually spread the flour around. The Miele also ran out of battery in the middle of the floor during its cleaning cycle before it could return to its dock to charge.
This Wi-Fi-Connected iRobot Roomba we tested in 2020 was an effective vacuum, but its navigation didn't seem massively improved from the less-expensive model—and its bin needed to be emptied much more than other models we tested. Given how much robovacs have improved over the last few years, we recommend spending a little more on something more advanced. At the time of publishing, Amazon is offering a $200 coupon on our top pick, making it only $70 more than this Roomba.
The Roborock S5 was our upgrade pick in 2020. This versatile robot vacuum and mop combo did a great job mapping out an accurate floor plan and vacuuming an entire level. Like our new top pick, the mop feature is perhaps a bit oversold, and like some of the other robot vacs we tested in 2020, this particular model appears to have been phased out.
When we tested robot vacuums in 2020, this mid-price Roborock failed the spot-cleaning test right away, and it didn't hold up in terms of durability or ease of use compared to other models in its price point. It’s a moot point now since it’s no longer available for purchase.
This budget-friendly Eufy robovac was our pick for small spaces when we tested in 2020. Though the mapping technology was lacking, it quietly completed our spot test of both spilled coffee and flour extremely well, thoroughly cleaning up our kitchen messes. And when it was tasked with completing a full cleaning cycle, we found that it left the floors as clean as any of its competitors. This is yet another Eufy model that seems to have been discontinued.
Like its brother, the affordable Eufy 11s is easy to set up and docks itself nicely. (With many vacuums it's hard to tell if they're properly on the dock and charging. The Eufy clearly indicates that it’s charging). This very bare bones Eufy robovac stayed out of our top picks because it could only be operated via remote control (which really defeats the purpose of a robot vacuum in the first place). In our spot test it appeared to pick up a lot of coffee and flour, but then when we went to dock the machine, it left a trail of sucked-up coffee and flour that had been trapped in its bristles. Like many older robovacs it’s since been discontinued—though the MAX version of this model is still available for purchase.
When we tested robot vacuums in 2020, the Neato was among the top contenders when it came to actually vacuuming—it's a powerful tool for sweeping up dirt and debris. It also had one of the best apps of the bunch and excellent mapping capability. Ultimately, though, the high price tag, propensity to get stuck, and small bin capacity kept it from the top picks, and now it appears this model is no longer available.
