Handheld vacuums are a great option if you're looking to clean small messes around your home or need to clear debris from hard-to-reach places. The best handheld vacuums have strong pickup performance across different surfaces, a battery that lasts long enough to finish the job, and a lightweight, comfortable design that lets you maneuver into tight spaces like car interiors, couch cushions, and stairways.
We've tested over 110 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.
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Best Handheld Vacuum
Cars8.1Stairs8.1Portability9.2Hard Floor Pickup8.5High-Pile Carpet Pickup8.0Low-Pile Carpet Pickup7.5Pet Hair Pickup6.0See all our test resultsVolume0.11 gal (0.40 L)The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is the best cordless handheld vacuum we've tested. This compact model excels at clearing solid debris from bare surfaces like countertops, shelves, tile, and hardwood floors. It's also powerful enough to lift debris from rugs and carpets. Though it's 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 (0.40 L) 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.
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, so it's not the best choice if people in your household suffer from allergies.
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Best Budget Handheld Vacuum
Cars8.2Stairs8.6Portability8.8Hard Floor Pickup9.0High-Pile Carpet Pickup7.5Low-Pile Carpet Pickup7.0Pet Hair Pickup4.0See all our test resultsVolume0.16 gal (0.60 L)If you're looking for the best cordless handheld vacuum at a budget price point, consider the Black+Decker 16V MAX dustbuster Cordless Hand Vacuum. While it isn't as sturdy as the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ in terms of build, it has a few advantages aside from its lower price tag. 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 that if the original battery's performance degrades over time, you can't easily swap it for a new pack.
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Best Cheap Handheld Vacuum
The BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim is the best portable vacuum we've tested if you're looking for something cheap and compact. It has a distinct design that differentiates it from standard handheld models, and it's ultra-small and portable. Its small form factor makes it easy to carry around or stow away when you're not using it, but its design has downsides. It features a small, weak suction motor that struggles to lift heavier debris, and a small dirt compartment that fills up quickly. Bulky debris can clog its suction nozzle, and if you overfill it, it can fall out of the dustbin and back out the suction inlet.
This handheld is better suited for quick cleanups of small, lightweight debris on hard surfaces like countertops, shelves, or even tile and hardwood floors. While there's no wide-aperture upholstery nozzle or miniature turbo brush tool for cleaning larger fabric surfaces, this vacuum comes with a crevice tool to extend your reach into tight spots. It also includes a slide-on soft-bristle brush for cleaning dust off delicate surfaces. It can run for about 15 minutes on a single charge, which is standard for a vacuum of this size and intended use. Unfortunately, recharging via its included USB adapter takes over three hours, and its battery isn't replaceable, limiting the device's overall lifespan.
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Best Handheld Vacuum For Allergies
Cars8.6Stairs8.5Portability9.4Hard Floor Pickup8.0High-Pile Carpet Pickup7.5Low-Pile Carpet Pickup7.5Pet Hair Pickup6.0See all our test resultsVolume0.02 gal (0.07 L)If you suffer from allergies and want an effective hand vacuum that seals in fine particles like dust and 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
Apr 14, 2026:
We checked to ensure all our picks were still available and made minor text changes.
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.
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.