The best corded vacuum cleaners 2024: Dyson, Shark and more

With an impressive 750W of power at every use, this strong, durable vacuum cleaner will change the way you tidy your house. It makes doing housework faster and more efficient, which will then leave you with more leisure time to sit back and enjoy your clean surroundings.

The compact design suits quick tidy-ups, while the 8m cord length is perfect for when you want to tackle the whole house without getting tied up in knots. Whether you choose hard-floor mode or carpet mode, it goes to war on dust with a satisfying buzz.

Even better is that it’s just as easy to use on stairs as it is on floors, as the canister detaches from the main unit at the push of a button to transform into a light handheld that reaches all the corners and edges.

Powerful LED lights were very useful when it came to cleaning under furniture, and we also loved that this vacuum not only has a HEPA filter but also Shark’s anti-allergen complete seal technology, which captures and traps 99.9 per cent of dust and allergens.

It’s important to point out that the Amazon basics corded vacuum cleaner is tiny. When it arrived, we thought the warehouse had made an error and sent us a toy. However, if you look past the size, you’ll find a great-value vacuum cleaner that provides a decent amount of power for the price.

Offering a motor output of 300W, it might not be the vacuum cleaner you use for the whole house, but its compact size means you can store it in a kitchen cupboard and use it for those fiddly and annoying messes that happen daily when you have children or pets.

The slim design also makes it easy to get stuck into small spaces, and it has a swivel brush head, so you can clean in any direction. It’s so reactive, if you move your hand slightly, it will follow. You won’t sweat, bend or lift using this, making it a sensible choice for anyone with mobility issues or feeling fragile as they age.

Additionally, the top of the vacuum detaches into a small handheld for use on sofas and car upholstery, providing even more bang for your buck.

It’s easy for pet owners to become blind to the sight and smell of pet hair build-up over time, but you can trust the Dyson ball animal corded vacuum cleaner to remove all traces of it from your home.

First, radial root cyclone technology from the ball delivers strong suction from start to finish. While other manufacturers measure suction power in motor watts, Dyson uses air watts, which is the number of watts used by the vacuum cleaner to carry a unit of air through an opening or nozzle. The Dyson ball has 270 animal watts, which means there’s a hell of a lot of force pulling dirt from your floors.

Second, a motorbar cleaning head disrupts the top of carpets and seals in suction on hard floors, so the air watts work their magic. Finally, hair-removal vanes automatically clear hair as you push, so you shouldn’t have to try and detangle hair from a brush head ever again.

We found this corded cleaner exceptionally easy to manoeuvre, thanks to the responsive roller ball that enables it to change direction with the flick of the wrist. At 1m tall, it’s comfortable for people of all heights. However, be warned – the 7.4kg weight is noticeably heavy, so it may not suit petite people or those who find lifting difficult.

If you can cope with the weight, you’ll find it performs brilliantly on stairs, thanks to the 10m cord, which has 4m of additional stretch, meaning there’s no pull on the top step when you plug it in at the bottom.

Although bagless vacuum cleaners are typically not as good for allergy sufferers as their bagged counterparts, this one hygienically ejects dirt at the touch of a button – so there’s no need to get your hands dirty.

This is a really well-designed vacuum, making cleaning more comfortable and speedier. We were impressed by how it offers four different height levels and variable power, so you can choose the optimum settings for any cleaning task.

It has an L-shaped head that lets you clean right to the skirting board and even reach under most radiators. The brush itself has a double helix design that guides dust into the airstream before trapping it securely inside. We felt able to zoom around, confident that dust wouldn’t stand a second chance without needing to stop and check what it was picking up.

When flat, the Felix measures just 15cm for superior cleaning power under furniture without any need to stop and switch attachments. And the 3.5l dust bag means you can do a whole house without having to interrupt the cleaning to empty it in a bin.

We were really impressed by the design of the filtration system, too. The first stage of filtration is the SEBO ultrabag. Made from the same material as medical masks, it safely retains virtually all dust that is picked up. A pre-motor filter is fitted after the bag and filters the air before it enters the motor. Aside from filtration, its main task is to prevent debris that could have entered into the vacuum body from entering and damaging the motor. Finally, an exhaust microfilter cleans air before it leaves the vacuum. Once this has happened, the air emitted from the vacuum is cleaner than the ambient room air.

Sturdy, durable and satisfyingly powerful, the Bosch series 4 didn’t leave a speck of dirt or dust in its wake when we tested it. Its 850W power was among the strongest we tested and that was visibly obvious in how clean it left our floors and furniture. Some bagged vacuum cleaners lose power as the bag fills up, but this one has Bosch’s unique power protect technology, which delivers the same amount of power, no matter how much dust is inside.

Each bag can hold an impressive 4l, cutting down the cost of replacement bags. On the subject of replacements, Bosch offers the longest guarantee of all the models we tested, providing 10 years of confidence in your purchase.

We loved how the four wheels swivel in all directions, making it easy to push and pull around the room. It’s also surprisingly compact, making it easy to carry upstairs and to tuck away in a cupboard when not in use.

As electricity gets more and more expensive, we were pleased to hear this vacuum cleaner has a Hi-Spin motor, which perfectly calibrates airflow to allow for high dust pick-up with low energy consumption. The vacuum itself is the most sustainable choice, made from 38 per cent recycled plastic.

This nifty corded stick vacuum made cleaning a pleasure (well, almost) due to its slim, lightweight design, plus Shark’s flexology technology, which means a flexible wand bends at the touch of a button to reach underneath low-lying beds, sofas and coffee tables with no need to lift them or bend down. It was also the easiest vacuum cleaner to store, as the wand folds down, so you can squeeze it into the smallest of cupboards.

It’s designed specifically for homes with pets, so you can expect anti-hair-wrap technology to stop hair from tangling around the brush roll, plus a special pet tool to remove embedded hair. The unique brush roll is great for homes with different floor surfaces, as it consists of two different types of brush in one. A bristle brush-roll cleans deep into carpet pile, while a soft front brush-roll draws in large debris and small particles, and lifts fine, stuck-on dust from hard floors.

Further useful features are LED headlights in the floorhead, to help illuminate hidden dust and pet hair, and a 10m cord (the longest among all the vacuum cleaners we tested). We’d give it five stars if it wasn’t for the small 0.3l dust capacity, which needs emptying frequently.

If you live in a messy household and often need a cleaner for a quick whip-around, the Tower VL20 is a joy to use. In stick mode, it’s easy to steer and covers a large surface area of the floor fast. Push a button for handheld mode, in which it will make stairs, sofas and car upholstery cleaner than ever. Plus, you can extend the pole in handheld mode to reach ceilings and corners, effectively giving you three vacuum cleaners at a bargain price.

This may have been one of the cheapest corded vacuums we tested, and its 600W power was slightly lower than other models, but cleaning ability on both carpet and hard floor was superb. Look closely at the vacuum cleaner while it’s powered on and you’ll see a motorised floor head that agitates dust and dirt for a deeper clean.

It’s also brilliant for allergy sufferers, with Tower making a point of stating it uses a HEPA 13 system, which is the newest model. Tower claims this removes 99.95 per cent of fine particles from 0.3 microns, making it ideal for allergy sufferers. But it was the 1.3kg weight that impressed us the most, as you can push it with just one finger. Even a two-year-old could push this, giving children no excuse to wangle their way out of housework.

There are very few scenarios the Miele complete C3 can’t handle. From tackling pet hair to helping allergy sufferers breathe better, this top-of-the-range corded cleaner is a solid all-rounder.

It may be the most expensive vacuum cleaner we tested, but it has several unique features that make it a premium investment. For example, an active air-clean filter contains active charcoal that neutralises pet odours, leaving the air in rooms noticeably fresher after vacuuming. Its suction power of 890W beat all the competition, resulting in floors that became almost shiny because they were so spotless. Miele says this is partly because a tight air seal and perfect air flow ensures power reaches the floorhead, which is an improvement on appliances that have a 700W or 800W motor internally but not always the same amount flowing through the brush.

Allergy sufferers will appreciate that you never have to see dust and dirt, let alone touch it or breathe it in. When the vacuum cleaner is opened, the collar of the Miele HyClean dustbag closes automatically and locks in the vacuumed dust for good. Plus, the protective netting prevents the bag from tearing.

All of the features do come at the expense of weight, as it tops the scales at a hefty 7.3kg. But if you don’t mind a bit of heavy lifting in the quest to have an immaculate house, this is a beast of a machine that’s unlikely to ever let you down.

For little more than £100, this is a lightweight upright vacuum with tornado-like power. At 800W, it offers superb suction power, combined with multi-cyclonic technology for sustained performance. The cyclone separates dust particles to keep it from blocking up the filter, which would lead to a loss in suction power.

The big selling point for time-starved homeowners is how easy it is to push. Thanks to its 80-degree steering angle, the swivelling floor nozzle glides around your home with ease. This helped us nip around furniture without having to stop, bend and reach. We could just push and run with this nifty cleaning ninja.

Switch on the brush bar for carpets, to pull out hidden dirt on soft surfaces, and turn off for faster cleaning on hard floors. You can also slide the vent cover to vary suction, if you want to be gentle on older carpets or rugs.