Created by Bridget Clegg using images from Getty Images, Bissell, Hoover
A home swathed in carpets needs more than just a weekly run-through with a vacuum. At least once a season, you should be giving your home the deep clean it needs by using a carpet cleaner to get out embedded dirt, fresh messes, and old stains.
Virtually any household can benefit from having a carpet-cleaning machine readily available to refresh carpets, rugs, and couch upholstery — plus, you'll never have to settle for renting a tank-sized carpet cleaner again when you have one of your very own.
Generally, carpet cleaners work by moistening the area with water and cleaning solution, scrubbing it into the material with their internal brush system, and then sucking it all up. This leaves carpets and upholstery significantly cleaner but not bone-dry. You'll want to avoid the washed area for a few hours (or overnight) to ensure that it dries completely. Once you've finished using the machine, make sure to empty its internal tanks and clean any brush heads or attachments used in order to prevent grimy buildup.
When starting your search for the best carpet cleaner for your home, there are a few essential basics to keep in mind:
Size: One of the most important features to consider is the carpet cleaner's size. If you have a large home with lots of carpeting, getting an upright model is a smart move — assuming that you have the closet space to store a vacuum-sized device! Small apartments are probably better off with a portable spot-cleaner that's roughly a foot tall — unless your place has lots of carpeting and messy pets that rule the roost.
Weight: If you have multiple levels in your home and a lot of carpeting to clean, keep an eye on this spec. Most upright carpet-cleaning machines are equipped with wheels, but not all portable cleaners have this feature. In this guide, we've listed the weight of all of our chosen picks when empty, but keep in mind that they'll be heavier when filled with water.
Attachments: Devices that come with special features like heating technology, hose attachments, and crevice-cleaning brushes may also be a factor in your decision. The more attachments, the more versatile a device is, though you'll need to make sure all parts are cleaned and stored properly after use.
How We Chose
To put together this guide, we researched the best carpet-cleaning machines based on our criteria above, also keeping reviewer satisfaction and price at top of mind. Any products that users said were prone to leaking (even after troubleshooting) or malfunctioning automatically got the boot from our list.
Additionally, two of our editors had the opportunity to test two of these carpet-cleaning machines in their own homes for several weeks at a time. They reported back on how well their machines remove deep-set and fresh carpet stains, as well as the general ease of use. Their full reviews of their machines are linked below.
These five top-rated carpet cleaners might work in similar ways, but they all offer their own unique benefits. Read on to learn more — and don't be surprised when you get addicted to the satisfying feeling of steaming your carpets.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
1
Best Overall
ProHeat 2X Revolution Max Clean Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner
Internal brush spins, even when using external attachments
Key Specs
Weight: 17.5 pounds
Water Tank Capacity: 128 ounces
The Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Max Clean Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner is a lifesaver for homes with carpeting on multiple floors. Its brush-roll cover and dual water chambers are easy to remove and clean, and the ergonomic handle allows for effortless maneuvering.
Users with or without pets sing this machine's praises, calling out the light, sleek build, easy-to-use directions, and thorough clean that it provides. It shampoos and sucks up grime in one fell swoop, leaving carpets looking like new. According to one reviewer, "It was quick and intuitive to set up and start cleaning. Emptying the dirty water and cleaning the machine took just a few minutes, and the design allows the machine to be thoroughly cleaned, unlike my previous machine."
This carpet cleaner comes with a detachable 8-foot hose and two interchangeable cleaning heads that can vacuum dry debris or treat stains with the included antibacterial solution. Reviewers do point out that when using these attachments to clean upholstery, the upright cleaner's main brush head continues to spin. So, make sure you're mindful of this, and always keep the device away from anything that could snag.
It might not be the lightest or sleekest carpet cleaner, but Hoover's Power Scrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner Machine is more than equipped for any carpet cleaning task. Its internal SpinScrub brush system helps ensure constant brush contact with the rug, coupled with extremely powerful suction for the deepest wash possible.
Reviewers even say that it's pretty fun to clean with! According to one person, "It's like a toy to me; easy to use and noticeable results. It does a great job of removing dirt spots. Some stains are so deep that it can't get out (sharpie, etc.), but for old, nasty carpet, it does wonders."
This product comes with an 8-foot hose and three different crevice-cleaning tools to spot-clean your sofas, car seats, and stairs. We only wish that this upright carpet cleaner had built-in storage for the hose and tools, though it does come with a mesh bag for storing these attachments.
Bissell's Little Green cleaning machine is a small, 17-inch-wide, go-anywhere device. It makes it easy to shampoo and remove stains from carpeted stairs, car seat upholstery, and fabric couches. It's a good product to get if your home does not have wall-to-wall carpeting, as its cleaning nozzle is a small, handheld device, and the machine doesn't have wheels.
When our tester Katie Pittman tried out the Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner in her home, she loved its quiet operation, lightweight build, and how simple it was to pick up and use. “Plug the machine in, turn it on, and do your thing. I didn’t feel like I had to go hunting for instructions, and the tanks have fill lines on both sides, so there’s no guessing when you need to fill up the clean side or empty the dirty side,” she says.
This carpet cleaner's one drawback is that its nozzle is tough to clean without any included tools, so debris can potentially get stuck and affect the device's performance. But as far as performance, Pittman says, "the Little Green tackled each stain and smear with ease."
Accidents happen! Luckily, the Bissell SpotBot Pet Portable Carpet Cleaner takes care of it in a jiffy. What sets this unit apart from the Little Green is that instead of just using its 5-foot-long suction hose to manually clean, you can simply place the machine's scrubber tool on top of a stain, and it will scrub and suck up the gunk for you.
Our editor Brandon Carte, who's a longtime dog owner, has used the Bissell SpotBot for roughly a year to clean up every type of mess you can imagine from his pets. He says, “The cleaner has a 3-minute speed cycle that I primarily use to soak up urine. It also has a 6-minute deep-clean cycle that I use when dealing with vomit or poop.”
He does note that the machine is quite loud when it’s running on auto mode, and it doesn’t suck up the moisture quite as effectively as other models, leaving his carpets pretty damp hours later. Still, he says, “Speaking as someone who has cleaned up more pet fluids than I can count, I would much rather have the Bissell SpotBot than clean the messes by hand.”
If your arms are aching just looking at some of these carpet-cleaning machines, the Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner is a rolling unit that allows you to more easily pull it from place to place.
To use, just fill its clean-water tank with hot water and carpet-cleaning solution. Then, use the silicone-tipped brush head to work the soap into the stain. The nozzle then vacuums up the moisture into its dirty-water chamber, which you can dump out when you're done.
While it's branded toward pet owners — and its included solution is formulated to lift pet stains — users say that it effectively lifts years-old food stains, too. Says one reviewer, “There was a banana stain that I’ve been trying to get out for the last 3 years and nothing worked. Thirty seconds with the Rug Doctor and it’s vanished!”
Melanie YatesSenior Home Decor EditorMelanie is the senior home decor editor of Best Products, where she's been researching and testing out home and bedding products since 2015 — her work can also be found on House Beautiful and Women's Health.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
