A handheld vacuum is an essential gadget for your arsenal of cleaning tools, allowing you to tackle small messes without pulling out a full-sized machine. For anyone with kids or pets, a dust buster (as some call it) can get daily use. To that end, you’ll want something that’s built to perform and last. All in all, the best handheld vacuums are ones that suck up spills with ease—no follow up deep cleaning required.
Just like regular-sized vacuums, today’s handheld vacuums come in a range of styles with a slew of features. But unlike past versions, these babies pack some serious punch to suck up more debris and run on battery power longer than their clunky older cousins. You can also count on standard features like ergonomic grips, different speeds and dust cups that are easy to dump out and reattach. There are handheld vacuums that are specially designed to tackle pesky pet hair or wet and dry spills. Basically, there’s a handheld vacuum for just about every kind of mess you’re looking to clean.
Best of all, handheld vacuums don’t need to cost a ton of money (at least, compared to your standard upright version). In fact, some of the best cordless handheld vacuums are priced in the $50 to $100 range.
To find the best handheld vacuums out there, we analyzed top-rated devices on the market and narrowed the field by features like suction power, ease of use and value. (Scroll to our buying guide, below, for more details.) The following handheld vacuums made the final cut so you can clean up future messes in a pinch.
- Best Handheld Vacuum Overall: Hoover OnePwr Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
- Best Replacement For A Full-Size Vacuum: Black+Decker BDH2020FL Max Flex Handheld Vacuum
- Best Budget Handheld Vacuum: Black+Decker CHV1410L Dustbuster
- Best Cordless Handheld Vacuum: Black+Decker BDH2000PL Max Handheld Vacuum
- Best Handheld Vacuum For Pet Hair: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser
- Best Corded Handheld Vacuum: Dirt Devil Scorpion SD20005RED
- Best Dyson Handheld Vacuum: Dyson Humdinger Cordless Handheld Vacuum
- Best Handheld Vacuum For Cars: Hotor Corded Car Vacuum
- Best Wet/Dry Handheld Vacuum: Dirt Devil Quick Flip Wet/Dry Hand Vacuum
- Best Shark Handheld Vacuum: Shark WV201 Wandvac Handheld Vacuum
- Best Handheld Vacuum For Stairs: Shark CH951 Cordless Handheld Vacuum
- Best Handheld Vacuum For Quick Clean Ups: Bissell AeroSlim Cordless Handheld Vacuum
Best Handheld Vacuum Overall
A Handheld Vacuum That’s Compact And Ready For Anything
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Crevice Tool
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Compact and easy to use
Looking for a hand vacuum that does a little bit of everything? You found it. The Hoover OnePwr works on hard and upholstered surfaces to powerfully suck up debris with ease. It’s cordless, allowing you to instantly get to work without searching for the nearest outlet, and it has an on-board crevice tool so you can get into nooks and crannies. The device weighs just 3 pounds so you won’t get a sore wrist while you work.
Once you’re done, just remove the front and empty it into the trash. Plus, you can wash the filter if it gets gunky over time. It’s also compact, making it simple to use and stash away...until the next mess arrives.
Pros: Powerful, lightweight
Cons: No brush attachment option
Best Replacement For A Full-Size Vacuum
A Vacuum That’s Small But Mighty
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Pet brush tool
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Four-foot flexible hose for tackling ceilings
The Max Flex Handheld Vacuum looks like a mad scientist shrunk a full-size vacuum, thanks to the extendable hose that wraps around the unit when you don’t need its full length. In other words, you can use this one-handed—like a regular handheld vacuum—or two-handed, extending the business end up to four feet away. The dirt bin is suitably oversized at 17 ounces and empties easily by unclasping one clip. It’s also washable for easy cleaning with a three-stage filter that’s designed to keep dust from escaping. The Max Flex includes a flip-up brush for dusting, a long crevice tool and a pet hair brush for cleaning fur and other stubborn debris from upholstery.
Pros: Operates like a full-sized vacuum, good attachments
Cons: Pricey
Best Budget Handheld Vacuum
A Dust Bust Option On The Cheap
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Built-in crevice tool and brush
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Holds a charge for up to 18 months
You don’t have to spend a lot to get a good handheld vacuum, as evidenced by this Black+Decker Dustbuster. That’s not surprising; few companies have more experience making cordless handheld vacuums, since they pioneered the product back in 1979.
Despite the low price, this model brings a lot to the table, including a pull out crevice tool and flip-up brush for all-purpose dusting and upholstery cleaning. The nozzle rotates to any angle, making it easier to clean around obstacles and in tight spaces and the dirt receptacle is easy to empty and can be washed out at the sink. Black+Decker claims the vacuum can hold a charge for up to 18 months, so it will always be ready to go, even if you don’t leave it plugged in when it’s not in use. It comes with a charging base so you’ll need to sit it on a shelf or counter to charge and it tops off in under four hours.
Pros: Inexpensive, built-in tools
Cons: Not easy to tell when it’s charging
Best Cordless Handheld Vacuum
The Ideal Option For Tight Spaces
- Best for: Upholstery
- Tools included: Built-in crevice tool and brush
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Narrow, pivoting nozzle
Black+Decker shows up several times in this list for good reason: The company makes an excellent handheld vacuum. The BDH2000PL, known simply as the Max, is one of the best cordless handheld vacuums you can buy. It’s a solidly built vacuum that’s easy to operate one-handed, and at 3 pounds, is not heavy to cart around for extended cleaning. The nozzle pivots around the base of the unit to make cleaning easy at any angle and in tight spaces, and it has both a pull-out crevice tool and a flip-up brush for specialized cleaning. And thanks to the cyclonic motion of the air in the bowl, the vacuum remains powerful even as the bin fills with dirt.
The Max comes with a charging stand that you can set on a counter top or mount on a wall and charges in under four hours. The large 15-ounce bowl empties easily and both the bowl and filter can be washed in the sink.
Pros: Powerful, lightweight
Cons: Pet hair can be tough to remove from filter
Best Handheld Vacuum For Pet Hair
A Vacuum Designed Specifically For Tackling Furry Messes
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Crevice too, upholstery brush and motorized brush
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Motorized brush for capturing embedded dirt and pet hair
While not a main selling point, it’s nice to know that Bissell donates $5 from each Pet Hair Eraser to the Bissell Pet Foundation. The company claims it has saved over 180,000 pets, which is right on brand for a handheld vacuum that leans hard into cleaning up after furry creatures.
This handheld vacuum comes with a trio of attachments designed to clean pet hair off furniture and upholstery, including a crevice tool, upholstery brush and—this is rare among handheld vacuums—a small motorized brush tool. The motorized brush appears to work very well at cleaning furniture so you won’t need to haul the full-size vacuum out of the closet. Cleaning the dirt bin is straightforward: the vacuum splits in the middle, separating the bin from the motor base, and the filter pulls out as well. Runtime is modest, though, clocking in at about 15 minutes. That’s more than enough for most small cleaning jobs, though.
Pros: Gets pet hair off upholstery, several attachment options
Cons: Short runtime
Best Corded Handheld Vacuum
An Option That Packs Some Major Power
- Best for: Upholstery
- Tools included: Built-in crevice tool
- Cordless: No
- Key features: Powerful motor
Not everyone wants a cordless handheld vacuum—if you’re not diligent about keeping it charged, you’ll inevitably find its battery dead just when you need to clean up an unexpected mess. And batteries fade over time, delivering less power after a year than when they’re brand new. That’s why you might want a corded vacuum like the Dirt Devil Scorpion. This traditional handheld has an especially powerful motor since there’s no risk of the battery running down too quickly. The vacuum holds about 15 ounces in its dirt bin and has a triple-level filter.
One nice feature: It has a particularly long flip-down crevice tool built in. Weighing 3.75 pounds, it’s on the heavier end of the scale, but not especially uncomfortable to hold. And you can get up to 16 feet away from your outlet thanks to an especially long power cord.
Pros: Long power cord, sizable dust bin
Cons: Can feel too heavy for some
Best Dyson Handheld Vacuum
A Next-Level Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Combination tool, mini motorized tool and worktop tool
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Strong cyclonic suction
Dyson products—from vacuums to air purifiers to hair dryers—are so beloved by many, and so synonymous with cleaning products, that it deserves its own special category. And the Dyson Humdinger is a marvel of engineering. Like some other handheld vacuums, it uses cyclonic air motion to keep the suction strong even as the dirt bin fills, but keep in mind that Dyson pioneered this technology in consumer products.
Visually, the Humdinger looks like a full-size Dyson cordless stick vacuum, minus the stick. And in reality, that’s probably largely true. It’s powerful and especially comfortable to use thanks to the ergonomic trigger-style design. The bin empties easily and can be cleaned with water as well. It also comes with three attachments for cleaning versatility.
Pros: Ergonomic trigger design, Dyson-level power
Cons: Pricey
Best Handheld Vacuum for Cars
Your Car’s New BFF
- Best for: Upholstery
- Tools included: 3 different nozzles and storage carry bag
- Cordless: No
- Key features: Bright LED light to easily access dark corners
While you can always carry any cordless handheld vacuum out to your car, you might prefer a dedicated car vacuum that can live in your automobile, or at the very least, in the garage. The Hotor Corded Car Vacuum is just what it sounds like: A vacuum designed expressly for your car, equipped with a 14-foot cord that plugs into its 12-volt power accessory outlet. It’s inexpensive, but keep in mind that it works best in one place (you guessed it: your car).
Unlike most handheld vacuums, it comes with its own storage bag, which also holds all the accessories—an extension hose, brush attachment, crevice tool and more. It has a traditional hand vacuum design with the dirt bin snapped onto the front of the motor base and it includes a three-layer filter. One nice additional touch: The vacuum has a bright LED headlamp to make it easier to see where you’re cleaning. That’s ideal for cars, which have a lot of dark spaces.
Pros: Long cord, inexpensive
Cons: Only designed for use in cars
Best Wet/Dry Handheld Vacuum
An Option That Can Tackle Dust Bunnies And Liquid Spills
- Best for: Multiple surfaces
- Tools included: Built-in crevice tool and squeegee tool
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Works on both wet and dry messes
Chances are, you probably don’t need a wet/dry vacuum every day. But if you want the option of cleaning up wet spills as well as dry (we’re looking at you, parents), the Dirt Devil Quick Flip Wet/Dry Hand Vacuum is an excellent choice. The bagless hand vacuum is lightweight—just 2 pounds!—and is cordless, so you can use it around your place with ease. It also features an extra-large dirt cup to hold up to 17 ounces of liquid and dry debris. This one doesn’t come with a charging dock and simply plugs in to a charging cable.
Pros: Lightweight, extra-large dirt cup
Cons: No charging dock
Best Shark Handheld Vacuum
A Sleek And Effective Option
- Best for: Upholstery
- Tools included: Multi-surface pet tool and duster crevice tool
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Lightweight, modern-looking
At just 1.4 pounds, the Shark Wandvac is one of the lightest cordless handheld vacuums money can buy, and it looks pretty distinctive, as well. Despite its narrow silhouette, it does a surprisingly good job cleaning difficult debris like pet hair and is easy to empty with the press of a button. Plus, it won’t pose an eyesore if you’re limited on space and have to store it on your counter; the base holds the Wandvac’s accessories, as well.
That said, there are some trade-offs with this design. The dirt bin’s 2.6-ounce capacity is quite small so it’ll fill up quickly and often. It also runs for less than 10 minutes at a time, taking 2.5 hours to fully recharge between jobs. Ultimately, this machine is ideal for small, quick clean-ups that require a decent amount of power and/or anyone who’s short on storage space.
Pros: Incredibly lightweight, easy to empty bin, compact
Cons: Small dust bin, short run time
Best Handheld Vacuum For Stairs
A Handheld Vacuum That’s Easy On Your Back
- Best for: Floors and upholstery
- Tools included: Crevice tool and scrubbing brush
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Lightweight, powerful suction
The Shark CH951 is a general-purpose handheld vacuum, but its design seems ideal for cleaning staircases. That’s because it’s lightweight at under 3 pounds and it has an easy-grip shape that’s comfortable to hold as you make your ascent. Since it’s cordless, you won’t have to drag a cord up and down your steps, making it easy to maneuver. The CH951 also features cyclonic suction for powerful cleaning and its filter is washable.
You can use one of three different attachments, including a powerful motorized brush roll to really get into carpet and upholstery, making it a solid choice for pet owners in homes with at least two floors.
Pros: Easy to move up and down stairs, hands-free debris disposal
Cons: Expensive
Best Handheld Vacuum For Quick Clean Ups
A Lightweight Option That Can Take On Tiny Messes
- Best for: Hardwood floors
- Tools included: 2-in-1 crevice tool and dusting brush
- Cordless: Yes
- Key features: Extremely compact
When you need to clean a small mess quickly, the Bissell AeroSlim Cordless Handheld Vacuum comes in, well, handy. The cordless vacuum, which weighs under 2 pounds, is one of the most lightweight and portable options on this list. And while it’s powerful in its own right, it’s definitely designed for quick jobs. It only runs for 12 minutes on a full charge, but it comes with a USB charging cable, in addition to its standard charger, so you can plug it in practically anywhere. It’s compact enough to store in your car or office and the 2-in-1 crevice tool and dusting brush conveniently stores with the vacuum on one stand so you always know where it is.
Pros: Compact, lightweight
Cons: Short battery life
Frequently Asked Questions About Handheld Vacuums
Which Handheld Vacuum Is Best?
Everyone’s needs are different, and it’s important to take a moment before buying a new handheld vacuum to think about what you’ll use it for. Do you mostly need a handheld vacuum to suck up small messes in the kitchen, or are you looking for something with a spinning brush to tackle pet hair on upholstery? Will this be used for wet spills, too? In addition to these questions, check out more points to consider, below.
Whatever you decide, it’s generally best to stick with a reputable brand like Black + Decker, Shark, Dirt Devil, Bissell or Dyson if you want a good quality pick.
Are Dyson Handheld Vacuums Worth It?
It depends on a few factors, including how often you’ll use your handheld vacuum and what kind of messes you plan to tackle. Dyson products—including handheld vacuums—tend to be pricey, but they’re high quality and made to last. A Dyson handheld vacuum like the Humdinger can be used to clean just about any kind of spill or mess, making it a reliable tool to have around your house. However, if you don’t plan to use your handheld vacuum all that often, it may not be worth the added expense.
What To Consider When Buying A Handheld Vacuum
When you purchase a handheld vacuum, you want to make sure it’s decent quality and fits your needs. Before making your selection, here are some key points to consider:
Usage
Some handheld vacuums are designed to work on a range of surfaces and messes, while others specialize in hard or soft surfaces or in specific areas like your car. Knowing in advance what you plan to use your handheld vacuum for will help you make a selection you’ll get the most use from. Worth noting: If you plan to use your handheld vacuum on upholstery or carpet, a brush roll feature is a must.
Corded/cordless
A lot of this comes down to personal preference. If you don’t mind dancing around a cord, a plug-in option—which typically has more suction power—may be a good fit. However, if you don’t want to be bothered with the extra step of plugging in your device, cordless is the way to go. You can find powerful cordless models with a runtime of as much as half hour, though be sure to look at the specs, because many cordless models only last a few minutes on a charge
Included tools
Some handheld vacuums contain additional tools like brush rolls and extensions to help you get into hard-to-reach places. If you plan to use your handheld vacuum to get between couch cushions and tackle upholstery or carpet, these are must-haves.
Dust bin capacity
Just need something to suck up a few after-dinner crumbs? A small dust bin should be just fine. But if you know you’ll use your vacuum on larger messes, you’ll want a larger dust bin you wont have to empty as often.
Other features
Some handheld models include built-in tools that you flip out when needed, keeping everything all in one place. However, they tend to be a little more expensive. If you just need something that’ll suck small pieces of debris off your floor, these accessories may go unused. Other features to consider include brush rolls (for soft surfaces), charging docks (versus just a cord), battery life, charging time, item weight, filter washability, compactness (especially for storage purposes) and suction power.
Again, taking a moment to think about your personal needs in advance will go a long way toward helping you make the right decision.
