After Testing 106 Carpet Cleaners, Here Are the 4 Best We Recommend

Best Overall

HOOVER ONEPWR SmartWash Automatic Cordless Upright Carpet Cleaner Machine

$480 $293 at Amazon $480 at Target $480 at Target

The Hoover ONEPWR SmartWash Cordless Carpet Cleaner is the only carpet cleaner of its kind (cordless!), and our top pick if you're looking for a carpet cleaner that can tackle large areas and small stains alike. It packs a cleaning punch that rivals our other favorites, even while relying on a rechargeable battery.

It's not uncommon for carpet cleaners to have limited modes or even just an on-off setting. This one, however, has three settings to pick from: a wash and dry setting, a spot-cleaning mode, and a dry-only mode. During our testing, it did especially well at extracting water from the carpet. Efficient drying is a big plus because it allows you to resume normal life more quickly and lowers the chance of damage to your carpets and rugs, and even the surfaces underneath them—so, a round of applause for this Hoover appliance.

Impressively, we never saw any signs of the suction power dwindling while this machine was in use either. For context, battery-powered cleaners are often less powerful than their corded counterparts, but we didn't feel like that was the case with Hoover ONEPWR SmartWash Cordless Carpet Cleaner.

Though, to clean some of the messes (hot sauce in particular), we had to push and pull the machine over the stain multiple times to make a significant difference. You may need to do the same with certain messes and spills. On the other hand, if you're ridding your carpets of everyday wear and tear, then this machine is more than up to that task. Plus, this machine is the lightest upright carpet cleaner on our list; it still weighs nearly 20 pounds when full, but is approximately 5 pounds lighter than the competition for easier cleaning.

_{Weight: 19.88 pounds (when full) | Battery Life: Varies depending on battery purchased | Attachments: 2 included brush rolls}

Best Portable

Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner

$124 at Amazon $124 at Wayfair $124 at Bissell.com

The Bissell Little Green is one of our editors' favorite carpet cleaners, and it's held its own during multiple rounds of formal testing. There are several iterations available, but the original version has made it obvious why the #littlegreenmachine has been a viral addition to many homes (and it tends to be less pricey than some of the newer models that have more bells and whistles).

With the transparent basins, you can see the Little Green sucking up dirty water and lingering spills. During lab testing, with a little bit of elbow grease, it cleaned set-in stains of juice, ketchup, and potting soil with no pre-treatment. (You could pre-treat your stains for more effective results, which is true of all carpet cleaners. However, never mix cleaners as doing so can be very hazardous.)

Like other portable-style carpet cleaners, the Little Green especially delivers when it comes to spot-cleaning. It's not the product to reach for if you're sprucing up an entire room, but it can consistently tackle spills on soft surfaces like area rugs, carpets, and even couches and chairs. During our home testing, we used it to handle red sauce that (unfortunately!) spilled on both a shag and low-pile rug, and it cleaned everything, leaving no noticeable changes in texture or smell.

We've seen it require a bit of maintenance over long-term usage, though. It's not the hardy machine that you'll push and pull over your entire living room, but for touch-ups and upkeep throughout your home, it'll leave spots—old and new—better than before you started.

_{Weight: 9.65 pounds | Cord Length: 15 feet | Attachments: Spraying crevice tool}

Best for Pet Owners

Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner

$190 $148 at Amazon $190 $158 at Walmart $148 at Home Depot

Pet owners know that fluffy friends come with their own set of messes, which is why we like the Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner for any pet stains on carpet. This small but mighty machine is ready to go out of the box and is also pretty intuitive to use. Our favorite feature is the retractable handle, which makes rolling it easy. (It's significantly heavier than the Bissell Little Green, so this suitcase-style design is almost a must.)

Our coffee stain was no match for this machine, and we were generally impressed by how quickly it removed stains. The rubber bristles of its cleaning head are satisfyingly sturdy, and easy to sanitize if the need arises. During our time testing it, it encountered multiple dog messes, as well as spilled food, and the cleaning head and suction power were able to get rid of the stains (and their related smells) completely.

Now, one hiccup we ran into with the Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner is the design of the clean water tank. The top is curved, which makes filling it from the bottom tricky—an extra set of hands is key. We also recommend being careful with the red tabs that hold the cord in place since they felt flimsy.

Ultimately, the rolling design is super useful for pet owners, since you can wheel this machine from room to room as needed to take care of all kinds of pet accidents and general household spills.

_{Weight: 18.96 pounds | Cord Length: 28 feet | Attachments: Dual-action pet tool}

Best for Low-Pile Carpets

Tineco Carpet One Cruiser Carpet Cleaner

$699 $589 at Amazon View on Tineco.com

The Tineco Carpet One Cruiser impressed us with its sleek engineering and cleaning capabilities, fully removing tough stains like jelly, chocolate milk, and hot sauce (fresh and dried). The drying feature absolutely wowed us too, right down to the light indicator that told us the humidity level of the carpet in real time. If you've ever had to shout to someone "don't step there!" or cringed when you got your own socks wet, the ability to quickly and easily dry a carpet after cleaning it is, again, a big plus.

Something else unique about this machine is what the brand describes as "smart motion detection," which in practice feels almost like self-driving. This takes some getting used to, and admittedly, we weren't quite sold on it. We didn't see a way to disable it either; the directions were fairly sparse. However, it could alleviate some of the effort required to lug this type of machine around, and make the overall cleaning process of larger spaces much smoother (once users get the hang of it, of course).

There's also a self-cleaning mode to alleviate some of the annoyances that come with maintaining this sort of machine, which we liked, too.

Now, we do want to be clear that this machine is not for shag rugs. The shag rug we tested it with was so beat up from cleaning that we had to toss it afterward. The power and performance, however, really worked nicely with shorter rug fibers, making this our top pick for low-pile carpets and rugs.

Sleek engineering does mean that the price tag is over $600 for the Tineco Carpet One Cruiser, but we think the value is there, especially for busy households with lots of short rugs and carpets.

_{Weight: 26.38 pounds (when full) | Cord Length: 21 feet | Attachments: None}