Best vacuums for hardwood floors 2024: tested by experts

Choosing the right vacuum cleaner for a home with hardwood floors requires some different thinking. For other, more durable flooring types, the more powerful the vacuum, the better. But with something as easily scratchable or discolored as wood, there are a few more factors to consider.

You'll need a vacuum with a soft brushroll that's been designed to protect all flooring types. It'll also help if the vacuum can adapt to different floors, either manually or automatically, so that it can tackle area rugs or different rooms with ease.

Luckily, vacuums excel on hard floors, so the power factor isn't quite as important as with carpets. But assessing how well each vacuum performs on a wooden floor is a must, which is why we've spent countless hours testing and reviewing the best vacuum cleaners to determine which is best.

As H&G's home tech editor, I've spent a lot of time testing, reviewing and writing about vacuum cleaners. After all the analysis, I strongly recommend the Dyson V12 Detect Slim as the best vacuum for hardwood floor thanks to its flawless performance on wooden floors and its relatively accessible price point. It's the vacuum I use in my own home, and most of my floors are wooden.

But if you're looking for something more comprehensive, I also recommend the Bissell CrossWave HydroSteam. It vacuums, mops and steam cleans and, as well as achieving an impressive five stars on test, it's been recommended to us by professional cleaners as the best way to clean hardwood flooring.

So read on for the full guide, and feel free to click the navigation links to take you to each specific product.

The quick list

Here's the list at a glance. Scroll further or click the navigation links for more info on why each of these, in their own right, are the best vacuums for hardwood floors.

The best vacuums for hardwood floors in 2024

Here, we run through why we think each of these vacuums are one of the best vacuums for hardwood floors, with links to their full, in-depth reviews.

The best vacuum for hardwood floors

Balancing suction power, ease of use and performance on wooden floors against the price - the Dyson V12 Detect Slim is the best choice. It's a highly powerful cordless vacuum that is perfect for cleaning hard wood floors, without a price tag that's too out-of-reach.

The V12 Detect Slim is the smallest and most affordable vacuum in Dyson's range of detection vacuums that includes the Dyson V15 Detect (also in this guide) and the Dyson Gen5detect. While both of these two options have larger dustbins and slightly improved features, the V12 Detect Slim costs hundreds of dollars less - and you still get all of the core features and performance.

What makes the V12 Detect Slim stand out among the best vacuums for hard wood floors is the FluffyOptic floor head. It has a green lazer that genuinely reveals dust that the naked eye can't see (even in a well-lit room), as well as a soft brushroll that is sure to never scratch or damage wood.

The suction power is an absolute breeze, too. At home, this is my primary vacuum cleaner and my home predominantly has hard wood floors, and I've never had to go back over a section of the floor to vacuum everything up. The V12 Detect Slim has no trouble picking up everything in one run, with a handy particle counter on the vacuum's screen so you know just how dirty the floors were.

It costs around $650 at full price (but is often on offer for around $400-500), and included in the price is the Motorized Anti-Tangle floor head which is mainly used for carpets. But, even in a home of exclusively hard wood floors, this powerful attachment can be used for rugs, mattresses and certain furniture.

For larger homes, perhaps the V15 Detect or the Gen5detect are better suited thanks to their bigger dustbins. In comparison, we found that the V15 Detect performed slightly better on carpets than the V12 Detect Slim, but on hard floors the performance is pretty much identical.

Read the full Dyson V12 Detect Slim review for more insight.

Best vacuum-mop combo for hardwood floors

If you're looking for the full package - a vacuum cleaner that washes and sanitizes your your hardwood floors - the Bissell CrossWave HydroSteam is the best solution. It's a vacuum cleaner, mop and steam cleaner in one, with dedicated modes for hard floors or carpets/rugs.

I spoke with professional cleaners for our mopping vs wet vacuuming guide and two of them coincidentally recommended the CrossWave HydroSteam. Lina DaSilva, founder of cleaning company Toronto Shine Cleaning, praised 'its versatility and ease of switching between hard floors and area rugs,' adding that 'it's a powerful wet vacuum that provides excellent multi-surface cleaning.'

We had similar results in our own tests, with our reviewer awarding it the full five stars thanks to how comprehensively it was able to clean her floors. She also found it easy to clean: the dirty water and debris tank has a (pet and human) hair strainer which helps to separate larger debris, and there's a self-cleaning cycle to keep the vacuum at its most hygienic.

A rare feature for a wet vacuum and mop combo: the Bissell CrossWave HydroSteam can also clean carpets and rugs, so it's a great multi-purpose option if your home has any soft flooring.

If you're looking for a vacuum cleaner, and only a vacuum cleaner, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim is your best bet. But if you're looking for more than that, i.e. an appliance that can fully clean your wooden floors, the Bissell CrossWave HydroSteam is the best in this list.

Read more in our full Bissell CrossWave Hydrosteam review.

Best value vacuum for hardwood floors

If you have a mixture of floor types in your home, I think your best bet is the Shark Vertex Cordless. For a similar price to the Dyson above, you get a capable vacuum that's effective on both carpets and hard floors.

Just like the Dyson Omni-Glide, it uses a soft brush head that lets it glide across hard floors without scratching them. Like the Dyson, it also cleans fantastically well on hard floors, easily picking up dust and small crumbs.

Unlike the Omni-Glide, however, the performance on carpet is just as good as it is on hard floors, with a motorised brush that digs into the carpet fibres to pull out hair and pet fur. Best of all, it has a self-cleaning brush roll that actually works, stopping hair from catching in the brush and saving you from the gross job of picking hair out of the bristles.

However, we're not convinced by all the bonus features of this vacuum. While the 'Multi-Flex technology' means you can fold down the vacuum for storage, the wide floor head means it still takes up a fair amount of floorspace. You'll also need both hands to unfurl the vacuum back up to full height, which can be a little frustrating. On test, we also found it very top-heavy, so it can be tricky to use to clean curtains and the corners of ceilings.

Our Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight Cordless Vacuum review goes into more detail.

Best cordless vacuum for hardwood floors

Once hailed as our favorite vacuum ever, the Dyson V15 Detect can do it all. It's a truly powerful cordless vacuum that makes light work of all dust, dirt and hair, easily picking everything up in one run.

It's said to be the next level up from the Dyson V12 Detect Slim (number 1 in this guide), but in all honesty they largely clean up as well as each other and boast the same features.

The most noticeable differences are the V15's larger dustbin, which gives you more time cleaning between empties, and the V12's single power button, which avoids you having to continually press a trigger while using it. Personally, I'd say the ease-of-use from the single power button outweighs the benefit of a larger dustbin.

The V15 Detect is $100 more expensive ($750 at full price), but if you can afford to spend the extra money, you'll be investing in one of the most powerful vacuum cleaners, tried-and-tested to beat almost all others in terms of suction power and usability.

Just like the rest of Dyson's detection range, the FluffyOptic cleaner head has a green laser to illuminate hidden dust, and it uses a soft brushroll that's happily safe on hardwood floors (and other hard floor types like tiles and lamintate). The vacuum also counts how many particles it's picked up (down to individual particle sizes) and can adapt suction power depending on the dust volume of your floor.

Read the full Dyson V15 Detect review for more details.

Best upright vacuum for hardwood floors

Large, heavy upright vacuums aren't typically the go-to choice for hardwood floors because their powerful motorised stiff brushes can easily scratch wood and vinyl. But Shark's latest upright vac, the POWERDETECT, avoids this issue with a floor head that's designed for all floor types.

The floor head uses two brushrolls, one soft and the other with angled brush fins, to pick up everything on your floors and to avoid hair tangle. On test, our reviewer found it to be beautifully effective in doing so.

'It’s able to suck everything up in its path efficiently and proficiently, no matter the debris,' he noted. After a heavy period of fur shedding from his cat, the POWERDETECT had 'picked up every visible piece of hair (as well as litter near the litter box) from the carpet, filling the dust bin with an amount of hair equal to a second cat.'

He found that this performance was just as impressive on hardwood floors. No matter what he tested with (flour, sugar, cereal, lemon pepper seasoning...), the upright vacuum cleared everything in a single pass.

The vacuum also has detection technology, and it'll adjust its suction power and brushroll speed by detecting both your floor type, the dust volume, and whether you're vacuuming the edges. So, the POWERDETECT will easily adapt to a house with predominantly hardwood floors, and can pick up the suction when it comes to area rugs or the wall's edges.

Read more at our full Shark POWERDETECT review.

Best robot vacuum for hardwood floors

This robot is a good choice for hard floors because not only do you have the option of vacuuming all the dirt, but you can also mop, which is perfect for surface stains. On test, it powered through rice, soil, and dog fur. It wasn't a perfect performance by comparison to the vacuums above, but very good by robot vacuum standards. However, the mopping performance was excellent, cleaning up a stain left on a wood floor from a snowy boot.

One of the best features is the grandly titled but ultimately simple 'CleanEdge Technology'. The robot uses blasts of air to loosen dirt from baseboards and push it into the path of the vacuum, so can clean right to the edge of your floors.

The battery lasted nearly two hours, and when cleaning bigger rooms it will return itself to its dock if it needs to charge. The dustbin can hold 60 days worth of dirt, so in theory it can clean your floors without you having to lift a finger for two months straight.

However, if you want to mop with this vacuum you have to manually switch out the dustbin with a water canister. That's no hard task in the grand scheme of things, but it's hardly autonomous. Don't expect this vacuum to scrub your floors and vacuum the carpet by itself. It can do one or other autonomously, but not both. Mopping isn't quite autonomous, either, because you have to empty the water tank yourself.

The app is also a little glitchy (though in fairness this may have been patched since our review) and it also can't track progress as it goes. Sometimes this robot doubles up and cleans areas it has already vacuumed or mopped. That's not great if you're working from home and want to run a quick half-hour program in between meetings, because you might find this robot is still whirring away as you pick up the call.

Read our full Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 review for more info.

Meet the team

Dan Fauzi

Dan is our home tech editor, covering everything from vacuums and floor care to sound and air purifiers. They've tested many of the vacuums in this guide including the best recommended choice, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim.

Alex David

Alex has tested vacuums, including most of the vacuums in this guide, ever since he started reviewing. With hundreds of hours spent testing dozens of vacuum cleaners, he's an expert in the best vacuum cleaners for your home.

Camryn Rabideau

Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer who has been testing home goods, including cleaning tools, for several years. She's tested many vacuums for H&G, including the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum from her small homestead in Rhode Island.

Jaclyn Turner

Jaclyn was an eCommerce editor for Homes & Gardens, where she oversaw sleep content including mattresses and bedding. She's tested a number of vacuums including the Dyson V15 Detect.

How we test vacuums for hardwood floors

At Homes & Gardens we like to get hands-on experience with all the products we feature. You can learn more how we test products in our dedicated guide, and there's a more specific rundown of our vacuum test process in how we test vacuums.

All of our vacuums are tried and tested in our test centre and in our own homes. When in the test centre, we assess each vacuum on carpet, linoleum and hardwood flooring, two of the most common types of hard floor.

When vacuuming on hardwood, it's important to observe how smoothly the vacuum glides across the floor, and how impactful the brushroll hits the floor's surface. Both of these, if not taken into consideration, can result in scratches and marks on the wood.

We test them with flour and sugar, which is a common kitchen spill but also a good proxy for dust and dead skin; cereal, which shows how well it picks up larger debris like crumbs and small stones; and most of all on old hair extensions, which demonstrates how well a vacuum can pick up hair, and whether or not hair gets stuck in its rollers.

Specific to vacuums for hard floors, we note any fluffy heads designed to stop scratches, and any features designed for hard floors. We take care to note each vacuum's weight and agility, because these are the traditional drawbacks with these models. We note whether each vacuum can fit under sofas and into corners and how easy they are to use to clean stairs.

We test the vacuum cleaners for a number of weeks so that we know our tests aren't a one-off. In some instances, we are also fortunate enough to keep the vacuum cleaners after writing up the review so we can continue to learn about them over months or even years and share our findings with you as the vacuums pick up wear and tear over time.

Vacuuming hardwood floor FAQs

Can I clean hard floors without a vacuum?

Yes, you can clean hardwood floors without a vacuum, but the job will only be half done. Mopping is crucial for removing stains from hard floors, and it can get up some dust. However, mopping can't pick up crumbs and hair - you should vacuum first and then mop for the best results.

Do vacuums damage wood floors?

Vacuums won't damage wood floors if you use the right setting. If you use a carpet setting you can damage the floor, as the fast-spinning, hard bristles might scratch the floor. If you have hardwood floors in your home it's smart to get a vacuum with a soft head, which makes it incredibly unlikely that your vacuum will scratch the floor.

Can I use an upright vacuum on hardwood floors? 

Yes, but make sure you have a model where you can turn off the motorised brush bar, or a setting that's designed not to scratch hard floors. These bars have pretty stiff bristles and move at very high speeds, so they can easily scratch some wood floors if you aren't careful.

All of the vacuums listed here are great for hard floors, but you may have other needs, too. It's always worth considering the best vacuum for pet hair if you have dogs or cats.