Not Dyson, Not Hoover: Consumer Reports Says These Vacuum Brands Are More Reliable

Whether you need a top-rated vacuum to keep your hardwood flooring clean or one that will manage pet fur, it's a good idea to aim for a brand that offers reliability alongside high-level performance. The best brands often provide longer warranties, easily accessible replacement parts for repairs, and authorized service centers that offer repairs.

Dyson and Hoover landed in the top three in a Lifestory Research list ranking the most popular vacuum brands in 2026. However, when it comes to reliability based on owner surveys, brands such as Makita, Samsung, Roborock, and Soniclean topped Consumer Reports' (CR) rankings, depending on the type of vacuum design.

CR collected information on almost 136,000 vacuums that survey participants bought new between 2015 and 2025. The nonprofit independent organization asked them about problems that they experienced with their machines and whether they would recommend buying the same vacuum again. The organization then used this data to determine the most reliable brands.

Among cordless stick vacuums, Makita and Samsung achieved the highest predicted reliability rankings from Consumer Reports members. Makita topped the chart for predicted brand reliability among the 20 cordless stick vacuum brands, receiving a significantly higher score than second-place Samsung. It also had the highest owner satisfaction score among all the cordless stick models mentioned in the CR surveys, with Samsung again taking the second spot on the list. Makita was not included in previous years' cordless stick vacuum surveys, but it has been making cordless tools for more than 40 years and offers over a dozen 18-volt cordless vacuums that use the same batteries as its tools.

Among robotic vacuum brands included in the survey, Roborock received the highest ratings for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. Owners participating in the survey reported fewer problems with Roborock's battery performance, hair clogs, or app performance compared to other brands. The second tier of robotic vacuum brands in the CR member survey for predicted reliability included Eufy, ILife, and Shark.

The Consumer Reports survey named Sebo and Soniclean as the two brands with the highest predicted reliability ratings among upright vacuums. Testers reported minimal problems with consistently dirty filters and broken belts when operating Sebo upright vacuums. The sentiment was similar when it comes to Soniclean's vacuums, with survey participants rarely reporting problems with clogs, dirty air filters, broken belts, and brush roller breakdowns. It's worth noting that CR did not run any Sebo or Soniclean upright vacuums through its hands-on laboratory testing, as these companies didn't have any new models recently released for testing.

When it comes to canister vacuums, which are easier to navigate around stairs and tight spaces, Sebo and Miele were at the top of Consumer Reports rankings for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. Survey members listed 16 different brands of canister vacuums in their surveys, but Sebo and Miele were the only ones to rank highly in both categories. Miele was near the top of the list for both bagged and bagless canister vacuums. As it did with upright vacuums, Consumer Reports did not do any hands-on testing with Sebo canister models because of a lack of new models.