Spending under $100 on a vacuum shouldn't mean settling for a barely functional appliance, but it does mean making some trade-offs. The biggest compromises tend to be with quality-of-life features and the general user experience: vacuums at this price point tend to feel pretty cheaply made, have relatively unsophisticated filtration systems, and come with few extra accessories. With that said, there are plenty of cheap models on the market that are more than capable of doing exactly what a vacuum is meant to: clean your floors.
We've tested over 110 vacuums, and below are our recommendations for the best vacuums under $100. If you're looking for more, check out our recommendations for the best budget and cheap vacuums, the best handheld vacuums, the best upright vacuums, and the best lightweight vacuums.
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Best Vacuum Under $100
House7.6Small Apartment6.5Bare Floor Pickup7.0Carpet Pickup6.8Pet Hair Pickup5.4Air Quality4.9Vacuum TypeCanisterBaglessNoSee all our test resultsCordlessNoIf you want a vacuum that punches above its price on bare floors without taking up much space, the Eureka Mighty Mite is worth a look. This budget bagged canister vacuum is lightweight and compact, making it easy to maneuver in tight spots or stow away when you're not using it. It's also remarkably easy to maintain, with a canister design that gives you quick access to its filter and dirtbag. Despite its affordable price point, it has a relatively powerful 12-amp motor, so it performs well on bare floors and picks up debris thoroughly on low-pile carpets when you retract the bristles on its straight-suction floorhead. If you have a lot of carpets and rugs in your home, there are a number of third-party air-driven turbo floorheads available for this vacuum, though just be aware that we haven't tested this vacuum with that kind of accessory. Also, you can remove its extension wand and clean it with its hard-bristle brush or combination upholstery/crevice tool.
Unfortunately, its particle filtration performance is rather disappointing. Its included paper filter bags are porous and allow fine particles to escape back into the air while you clean. On the plus side, disposing of a filled dirtbag won't release a cloud of dust.
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Best Cordless Vacuum Under $100
House6.7Small Apartment7.6Bare Floor Pickup5.3Carpet Pickup6.5Pet Hair Pickup6.7Air Quality7.6Vacuum TypeStick/HandheldBaglessYesSee all our test resultsCordlessYesThe Wyze Cordless Vacuum S is one of the few cordless vacuums you can find for under $100 on occasion, and it comes with a feature that's rare at any budget price: a HEPA filter. Its filtration system does an excellent job trapping fine particles while you clean, which is a significant upgrade over every other pick on this list. Most budget vacuums struggle with lifting pet hair from carpets, but this model does a decent job, outperforming all the other picks on our list. It's also one of the lightest full-sized cordless vacuums we've tested at around 5 lbs, and it runs quietly enough that you won't bother anyone else in the house. The battery is swappable, so you can buy a spare if you've found that its ability to hold a charge has degraded over time.
The trade-offs for going cordless at this price are pretty significant, though. Bare floor performance is disappointing; the brushroll tends to scatter larger debris rather than picking it up. Carpet pickup is also mediocre. Like all bagless vacuums, emptying the dustbin releases a cloud of dust, which undercuts the benefit of its strong filtration during cleaning.
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Best Upright Vacuum Under $100
House7.5Small Apartment6.3Bare Floor Pickup6.1Carpet Pickup5.8Pet Hair Pickup6.7Air Quality3.3Vacuum TypeUprightBaglessYesSee all our test resultsCordlessNoIf your home has a mix of carpet types and you need a vacuum that can adapt to different pile heights, the BISSELL PowerForce Helix is one of the few uprights at this price point that offers that kind of flexibility. This bagless upright has a powered floorhead that provides more surface agitation. This means it's a much better option if you have a lot of thick carpets and rugs at home. Rare for a vacuum at this price point, its floorhead has five levels of height adjustment, allowing you to adapt to most carpet lengths; just know it can still get caught on thick shag-pile carpets. You can also clean using just the vacuum's hose and crevice tool with a slide-on soft-bristle dusting brush, which is a nice feature at this price point. The dustbin is fairly large and won't need regular emptying.
While it excels with pet hair and larger debris on most surface types, it struggles with finer material embedded deep within carpet fibers. Also, there's no off switch for its brushroll, so be careful when cleaning around loose obstructions like rug tassels since they can get tangled in the floorhead. Air quality is also a serious weak point: its filter lets a large amount of fine particles escape back into your air while you clean. Unsurprisingly, given its price, its build quality is nothing special, with a mainly plastic body that looks and feels cheap and somewhat toy-like.
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Best Lightweight Vacuum Under $100
House6.9Small Apartment5.7Bare Floor Pickup6.4Carpet Pickup3.5Pet Hair Pickup3.4Air Quality3.4Vacuum TypeUpright/HandheldBaglessYesSee all our test resultsCordlessNoThe BISSELL Featherweight Stick is worth a look if you're looking for a lightweight, all-purpose vacuum at a bargain price. Weighing about three pounds, it's remarkably portable and a good option for elderly users who don't want something too heavy or bulky to maneuver. Its simple design also makes maintenance a very straightforward process, with an easy-to-empty dustbin and a readily-accessible filter. By removing its handle, you can reconfigure it into a compact handheld vacuum to clean tight spots.
Performance-wise, it does a decent job of handling small debris on hard floors, given its price. However, it falls short compared to the Eureka Mighty Mite and the BISSELL PowerForce Helix above, especially with heavier material or messes on carpeted floors. Hazards like rug tassels can also get stuck in the floorhead, requiring you to turn off the vacuum and pull the tassels out. Like the BISSELL PowerForce Helix, its filtration is terrible, letting a large amount of fine particles escape back into your air while you clean. Another downside is that the power cord is very short, so you'll need to switch outlets when vacuuming in large areas.
Notable Mentions
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BISSELL Zing Bagless Canister:
The BISSELL Zing Bagless Canister offers good performance on carpets. However, this bagless vacuum has higher recurring costs than the Eureka Mighty Mite, even considering the Eureka's requirement for filter bags.
See our review -
Eureka Whirlwind Bagless Canister:
If you want to avoid the hassle of replacing the dirtbag, the Eureka Whirlwind Bagless Canister is a great alternative to the Eureka Mighty Mite. However, shaking out a dustbin isn't as effortless or hygienic as simply removing and tossing a filled dustbag.
See our review
Recent Updates
Aug 05, 2026:
We've ensured that all our main recommendations still represent the best fit for user needs and have made small adjustments to the text to clarify product details.
Apr 27, 2026:
We edited the article to add new air quality test results. We added the Wyze Cordless Vacuum S as the 'Best Cordless Vacuum Under $100.'
Nov 11, 2025:
Based on availability, we removed mentions of the discontinued Dirt Devil Endura Max and the Wyze Cordless Vacuum. We also made minor text alterations.
Apr 11, 2025:
Revised some wording for accuracy and checked that all recommendations were still available and valid.
Jan 07, 2025:
We've made small edits for clarity and verified that our recommendations are available and represent the best choices.
All Reviews
Our recommendations are based on what we think are currently the best vacuum cleaners for under $100. We factor in a fairly wide range of factors, including availability, price, and reader feedback.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our vacuum reviews under $100. 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.