Handheld vacuums are a great option if you're looking to clean small messes around the home or need to clear debris from hard-to-reach places. They're lightweight and portable, and due to their small size, they're handy when tackling more difficult or uneven terrain, like inside your car or on your stairs. Some stick or canister vacuums also have a handheld configuration, making them a versatile choice if you need to clean larger areas as well. Unfortunately, handheld vacuums tend to have small dirt compartments. If they're cordless, they may also have a shorter battery life than non-handheld vacuums.
We've tested over 105 vacuum cleaners, and below are our recommendations for the best handheld vacuums you can buy. These picks are selected for their performance on different surfaces, as well as their feature set, battery life, and price. For more options, see our lists of the best lightweight vacuums, the best car vacuums, and the best cordless vacuums.
Quick Look
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Best Handheld Vacuum
Bare Floor7.4Low-Pile Carpet7.4High-Pile Carpet7.5Pets6.1Stairs9.0Build Quality7.5User Maintenance7.0Recurring Cost7.0See all our test resultsPortability9.2The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is the best cordless handheld vacuum we've tested. This compact model excels at clearing away solid debris on bare surfaces like countertops, shelves, tile, and hardwood floors. It's also powerful enough to draw out debris from rugs and carpets. Though on the larger side for a handheld, it's still small enough to stow away in most cupboards and closets. It has a sizable 0.11-gallon (0.40L) dirt compartment, so you won't need to empty it after every cleaning job. The CH951 variant comes with a crevice tool, a hard-bristle brush, and a miniature turbo brush with a self-cleaning brushroll for cleaning upholstered surfaces. The mini turbo brush tool isn't very practical: it's pretty bulky and does a poor job of dealing with pet hair, so you're better off using the hard bristle brush to deal with strands of hair on furniture.
It's not a perfect product, though. The vacuum's 10-minute battery life is poor, even by the low standards of other handheld vacuums, so you'll need to work fast when cleaning larger messes. Even worse, the battery isn't user-replaceable, so you can't swap in a new pack if the old one doesn't hold a charge as well as it used to. It also does a terrible job of sealing in particles like pet dander or dust, with fine particles easily escaping from its exhaust.
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Best Budget Handheld Vacuum
Bare Floor7.5Low-Pile Carpet7.2High-Pile Carpet7.3Pets5.7Stairs8.6Build Quality7.5User Maintenance7.0Recurring Cost9.5See all our test resultsPortability8.8If you're looking for the best cordless handheld vacuum we've tested at a wallet-friendly price point, get the Black+Decker 16V MAX dustbuster Cordless Hand Vacuum. While it isn't as sturdy as the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ build-wise and is a little bulkier, it has a few advantages aside from its lower price tag. For example, its dustbin is bigger, and its replacement filters are less expensive. It excels when it comes to sucking up debris on hard surfaces like countertops or hardwood floors, and it does a good job of dealing with debris in cracks and crevices, thanks to a built-in crevice tool.
Unfortunately, the selection of attachments is very limited, with only the aforementioned slide-out crevice tool and a flip-out hard-bristle brush. There's no upholstery tool or miniature turbo brush to make cleaning fabric furniture easier. Plus, it can only run for a little over 10 minutes on a single charge and takes over three hours to recharge. Like the Shark, the battery isn't removable or replaceable. This means if the original battery's performance degrades over time, you can't easily swap in a new pack.
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Best Compact Handheld Vacuum
Bare Floor7.0Low-Pile Carpet7.5High-Pile Carpet7.3Pets7.0Stairs8.9Build Quality7.5User Maintenance8.0Recurring Cost7.0See all our test resultsPortability9.5If you prioritize portability above all else, the BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim is the best portable vacuum we've tested. With a very compact body, just a little smaller than a two-liter soda bottle, it's a distinct type of handheld vacuum compared to something like the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ or the Black+Decker 16V MAX Cordless Hand Vacuum. Its small form factor makes it easy to carry around or stow away when not in use, but its design has downsides. It features a small, weak suction motor that struggles to lift heavier debris, as well as a compact dirt compartment that fills up quickly. Bulky debris can clog its suction nozzle, and debris can fall out of the dustbin and back out the suction inlet if you overfill it.
This handheld is better suited for quick cleanups of small, lightweight debris on hard surfaces like countertops, shelves, or even tile and hardwood floors. It can run for about 15 minutes on a single charge, which is normal for a vacuum of this size and intended use. While there's no wide-aperture upholstery nozzle or miniature turbo brush tool for cleaning larger fabric surfaces, this vacuum has a crevice tool to extend your reach in tight spots. It also comes with a slide-on soft-bristle brush for cleaning dust off delicate surfaces. Unfortunately, recharging via its included USB adapter takes over three hours, and its battery isn't replaceable, limiting the overall lifespan of the device.
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Best Handheld Vacuum For Allergies
Bare Floor7.3Low-Pile Carpet7.6High-Pile Carpet7.5Pets6.5Stairs8.9Build Quality7.5User Maintenance8.0Recurring Cost10See all our test resultsPortability9.4If you suffer from allergies and want a more effective vacuum for sealing fine particles like dust or pet dander, check out the Shark WANDVAC. Compared to the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ and most other handheld vacuums, it has a pretty tiny dirt compartment, so you'll be emptying its dustbin at the end of almost every cleaning session. However, it does a much better job of sealing in allergens with the standard filter, which isn't even HEPA-rated. Plus, you can get third-party compatible HEPA-rated filters if you want to further increase its filtration performance. The vacuum is only slightly larger than the highly compact BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim, making it a cinch to stow away in a drawer or cupboard when not in use.
This vacuum has a few variants. We recommend opting for the pricier WV201 variant over the WV200, as it includes a low-profile charging dock with room for its included attachments, so you won't have to find another place to store them when they're not in use. Although there's no miniature turbo brush for cleaning carpeted or fabric surfaces, the included straight suction upholstery tool is still effective in dealing with messes on furniture. Unfortunately, the Shark's battery lasts only around 10 minutes on a full charge, and like many other handheld vacuums, the battery isn't removable or replaceable.
Notable Mentions
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Black+Decker dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Pet:
The Black+Decker dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Pet is a cordless handheld vacuum with superior battery performance to the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ and has a larger dirt compartment. However, it's less maneuverable, feels less well-built, and doesn't perform as well on bare floors.
See our review
Recent Updates
Nov 13, 2025:
We checked all recommendations for accuracy and availability. We removed the Wyze Handheld Vacuum Notable Mention since it's no longer available.
May 02, 2025:
We've verified that our recommendations are available and represent the best choices. We've also made small edits for clarity.
Jan 22, 2025:
Verified that all picks are valid and available. No change in recommendations. Small text changes for conciseness and clarity.
Oct 08, 2024: We've verified that our recommendations are available and represent the best choices on the market. We've also made edits for clarity.
Aug 08, 2024: We've updated the article for clarity and verified that our recommendations are all available and represent the best choices.
All Reviews
Our recommendations are based on what we think are currently the best cordless handheld vacuums to buy. We don't just base our results on overall performance but also on factors like availability, price, and reader feedback.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our handheld vacuum reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no vacuum is perfect for every use, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.