Best Upright Vacuums of 2024
These upright vacuum cleaners from Dyson, Kenmore, Kirby, and Shark shone through our vacuum tests
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If you’re looking for a new full-sized vacuum, there’s no shortage of reasons to consider an upright. Uprights are workhorses that excel at deep-cleaning and are easy to store. The majority of the models we tested were stellar at cleaning hardwood floors. Many also get high marks for picking up pet hair.
That said, some upright vacuums are bulky, and many are noisy (outside of a few that made our cut for the quietest vacuums). To help you cut through the noise, we tested over 50 upright vacuums from the leading brands—and selected the best for you to consider.
As you scroll through the models—which are listed in alphabetical order—we recommend considering each vacuum’s size and weight, noise level, reliability, and pet-friendliness.
Read on for details on how we test upright vacuums and how we decide which models perform the best. For more options, see our complete upright vacuum ratings, which feature models from 10 brands. Also, consult our vacuum buying guide for smart shopping tips.
Best Bagged Upright Vacuums
Bagged upright vacuums use a disposable bag to contain the dust and debris they collect. Once the bag is full, you remove it and dispose of it—without having to touch the collected dust, hair, or other debris. But because of the built-in bag, bagged vacuum cleaners tend to be bulkier and heavier than bagless models.
While upright vacuums excel at cleaning carpet, the Kenmore BU1018 does an even better job on bare floors, which makes it a good option for handling hardwood floors, among other types of flooring. And if you have a pet, it’s a great pick. This wallet-friendly vacuum has nice extras like a HEPA filter and a full-bag indicator. It weighs 21 pounds, which may make it harder to move around. Kenmore upright vacuums, as a brand, garner middling scores for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction in CR’s latest member surveys.
Although “pet” is part of this model’s name, the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly 31150 is better at cleaning bare floors than pet hair, earning an excellent rating in our bare floor test. It still earns a very good rating for removing pet hair, though. It also reliably cleans carpet and has clean emissions, meaning everything it sucks up stays in the vacuum. While budget-friendly, it’s a bit on the noisy side, especially when compared with some of the bagless models. At 21 pounds, it’s also heavier than most of the upright vacuums we’ve tested. It has a fairly long cord—35 feet—and an indicator that lets you know when the bag should be replaced.
The budget-friendly Kenmore Intuition BU4050 performs well when cleaning bare floors, which makes it ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and hardwood floors. This upright also does a solid job at removing embedded dirt from carpets. It comes with an air power brush and a wide upholstery tool, and it has a lift-away feature for portability and suction control. Another draw is the hair eliminator feature on the brush roll that is designed to prevent hair entanglements.
If you have a pet that sheds and your floors are hardwood or tile, the cost-effective Kenmore Pet Friendly 31140 will serve you well. It earns an excellent rating on our bare floor test, and it does a solid job cleaning carpet. Suction through the hose is impressive, so if you use your attachments to clean curtains or upholstery, you won’t be disappointed. Emissions are clean, meaning this bagged vacuum will retain what it sucks up. It comes with a HEPA filter, which is designed to capture more dirt particles, and a light that indicates when the bag is full so that you know when it’s time to change it, two pluses if you’re sensitive to dust.
The Kirby Avalir 2 is one of the most expensive uprights in CR’s ratings. But you do get impressive carpet cleaning capabilities; this model earns an excellent rating in that test. It also aces our bare floor and pet hair cleaning tests, and does it all without spewing debris back into the air. Still, it has two shortcomings: It weighs a hefty 23 pounds, contributing to its mediocre rating for handling, and it’s one of the noisiest uprights we test. Based on our member surveys, Kirby uprights earn a very good rating for predicted reliability but an unimpressive rating for owner satisfaction. Kirby vacuums are sold only by authorized distributors via in-home demonstrations.
Best Bagless Upright Vacuums
Bagless upright vacuums collect dust using a built-in bin. They tend to be lighter and easier to move around. The bins are also reusable, making them more environmentally friendly than bagged upright vacuums.
The Dyson Ball Animal 2 upright vacuum earns top-notch ratings for its ability to clean bare floors and to pick up pet hair. It has a HEPA filter and earns an excellent clean emission score from our tests, making it a good choice for those with allergies. It also does fairly well when cleaning carpet and has strong suction. In our member surveys, Dyson upright vacuums earn middling scores in both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.
The Kenmore Pet Friendly Cross-Over DU3017 earns excellent ratings for cleaning bare floors and removing pet hair, living up to its name. The 17-pound upright vacuum earns a decent score for cleaning carpet, and the tool’s airflow is impressive, making this a good choice if you use your attachments a lot to clean upholstery or curtains. Emissions are clean. But like some of its brandmates, this Kenmore is a bit noisy, and our testers report that it’s not the easiest vacuum to move around and maneuver under furniture.
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away LA300 is excellent at cleaning bare floors and pet hair, and it does a solid job cleaning carpet. Its suction power is not bad either, earning a very good rating in that test. It comes with a detachable pod that makes it easier to clean stairs and furniture, and there’s a manual suction control on the handle. At 12 pounds, it’s also lighter than most of the bagless uprights we’ve tested. In our member surveys, Shark uprights receive a very good mark for predicted reliability and an excellent rating for owner satisfaction.
The Shark Navigator Professional NV360 is one of the least expensive upright vacuums we tested, but it’s also one of the best. It has a 25-foot cord and weighs about 14 pounds. It receives excellent ratings in our carpet and bare floor tests and also for removing pet hair. The tool features a brush on/off switch and suction control.
The budget-friendly Shark Rotator Professional Lift-Away NV501 is one of the quieter upright vacuums in our tests. The 17-pound vacuum excels at cleaning bare floors, which makes it ideal for cleaning kitchens and bathrooms. Our testers also found it does a solid job at removing embedded dirt from carpets. The vacuum features a brush on/off switch, which safeguards bare floors and prevents the scattering of dust and debris.
The lightweight Shark Stratos AZ3002 is good for any home with a mixture of surfaces, and especially good if you have a pet. This 16.6-pound upright does a very good job cleaning carpet and an excellent job on bare floors. The power lift-away feature that allows it to be used like a canister is another plus. This model comes with several attachments, and suction through the hose is top-notch, so you won’t have a problem vacuuming upholstery.
Our testers like the Shark Vertex DuoClean’s Duo brush roll, a soft brush tool designed to prevent hair from getting trapped in the main bristles. This wallet-friendly upright also picks up pet hair especially well, earning an excellent rating in that test. It has exceptional suction power and does a solid job containing small dust particles in the dustbin. It weighs 17 pounds, and the lift-away canister makes it easy to clean out-of-the-way places.
How CR Tests Upright Vacuums
To rate upright vacuums, we lab-tested dozens of models to see how well they remove debris from carpet and bare floors, how easy they are to maneuver around (and under) furniture, and how clean their emissions are. We also examined the strength of their suction by rigging each upright vacuum in our testing with a pressure gauge and measuring airflow in three stages—with the vacuum bag or bin empty, with it filled with 100 grams of wood flour, and then with it filled with 200 grams of wood flour.
In addition to these calculations, we factor in the reliability and owner satisfaction scores from surveys based on members’ experiences with 99,522 nonrobotic vacuums bought between 2014 and 2024. The scores from these surveys, along with test results from our lab tests, inform our Overall Score for each upright vacuum.
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