I've tested 25+ robot vacuums. These are the only ones I'd tell you to buy in 2025.

The percentage of homes that would benefit from having both a robot vacuum and a manual stick vacuum is probably 100 percent. In a perfect world, right? If you don't have the space, budget, or patience for that, the Eufy E20 3-in-1 is a really strategic way to maximize a mid-range budget. The E20 would have serious daily usability if your idea of a clean home goes past the floors to crevices like windowsills, car seats, staircases, or the pit of despair between couch cushions.

In a sea of $1,500+ vacuums, Eufy was genius to take the "bang for your buck" approach with its CES 2025 contender. At $649.99, the Eufy E20 3-in-1 isn't all that steep for a self-emptying, smart mapping robot vacuum, let alone the bonus cordless vacuum it brings along. Here, 3-in-1 refers to the robot vacuum, cordless stick vacuum, and handheld modes. Switching between these modes just involves pulling the motor out of the robot vacuum body and clicking it onto one of the included attachments.

The Eufy E20 definitely isn't the most powerful robot vacuum I've tested, nor is it as powerful as my favorite Dyson vacuum, which I should note has an identical price tag. We already know that its real power lies in its range, but for the value, its robotic and handheld cleaning capabilities would actually suffice for any casual cleaner. At 8,000 Pa, it vacuums with the same amount of suction power as last year's Eufy X10 Pro Omni, which also impressed me during testing. Its pickup rate of fine debris along edges and long hairs on rugs could be better, but the E20 reliably took care of all visible crumbs and loose tufts of pet hair on most rugs, hardwood, and tile.

While the Eufy E20 can avoid items like toys over 15 millimeters or pet food bowls, its obstacle avoidance doesn't extend to flatter items like cords or socks. Its navigation to specific rooms and zones, however, was nearly perfect in my apartment. It surveyed the three bedrooms and bathrooms extremely accurately on the first try, and after I added an extra border or two, the E20 reliably made its way to selected spots on a daily basis — and without getting stuck on a bath mat or under a bed.

Read my review of the 3i G10+.

If you're set on spending less than $500 on a robot vacuum, there are few reasons to not go with the 3i G10+. Between its ability to get around in small, cluttered spaces and its dust-compacting, space-saving design, the 3i G10+ would particularly be a great pick for apartments.

This niche, inexpensive pick also eclipses any other robot vacuum under $500 in the pet hair department — and even has stronger suction power than many premium robot vacuums. While it'd be a great pick for homes with a lot of carpeting or rugs, it can be ruled out for large homes with lots of hard floors and heavy-duty mopping needs.

This is the first robot vacuum I've ever tested from 3i, and I already know it's going to be one of my most recommended robot vacuums of the year. While its dust-compacting element is cool because it saves you the space a self-empty dock would take up, it's hardly the G10+'s only monumental feature.

For such an inexpensive robot vacuum I was thoroughly impressed by the G10+'s perceptive navigation around my apartment. Its initial mapping run of the rooms was almost 100% accurate —it even recognized beds, credenzas, and toilets all on its own, and automatically remembered where all of the rugs were. The 3i G10+ is also the incredibly rare budget option with small obstacle avoidance that can steer clear of cords or socks, plus pet waste (I tested this with fake brown sugar). But small obstacle avoidance isn't the only high-end feature 3i squeezed in here here — there's also a livestream pet camera. That was firmly a $1,000+ robot vacuum feature until now.

All of that brainpower isn't just fluff, either. The G10+ is a beast at cleaning. Its 18,000 Pa of suction power is super high for this price range, and you can tell that the G10+ is working hard as it moves extra meticulously when carpet is sensed, or during zone cleaning.

Read my full review of the Eufy X10 Pro Omni.

The Eufy X10 Pro Omni is a stellar find for shoppers who can spend more than a few hundred bucks but who still draw the line at $1,000. With small obstacle avoidance and a self-washing and drying mopping system, this Eufy offers more bang for your buck than the similarly priced Roomba Combo j7+ or Roborock Q8 Max+. This particular Eufy robovac also has some of the best battery life on the market (even on its highest suction setting), making it an even easier choice for homes with lots of square footage or multiple stories.

Of all the X10 Pro Omni's advanced features, the small obstacle avoidance can't be understated, especially in homes that are, let's say, well lived in. If you could bet money that there's a rogue sock, kid or pet toy, or phone charger on the ground at any given moment (it's the mountain of crap shoved under my bed for me), you'll appreciate the AI-powered small obstacle avoidance, which lets you confidently run the robot vac when you're not home to tidy up first.

Eufy's most elaborate robot vacuum (it's the brand's first self-emptying hybrid that self-refills the water tank and self-washes and dries the mopping pads) was also somehow the most affordable robot vacuum that debuted at CES 2024. That plus small obstacle avoidance are features we usually see in only the priciest vacs in the competition, so the fact that the X10 Pro Omni's resumé has both is seriously impressive.

Props to Eufy for not skimping on wet or dry floor cleaning here. Its official suction power ranking of 8,000 Pa is beastly on paper and proved proficient IRL on messes like spilled dry rice on both medium and flat piles. For wet or sticky messes, it's a rare sub-$800 model with dual spinning mopping pads to actually scrub more than gloss.

Read our full review of the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 (previously called the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1).

Too many robot vacuums make impromptu spot cleaning much harder than it needs to be. If that's a pain point on your radar, you'll appreciate the straightforward approach of Shark's Matrix line. In particular, the model that mops is one of the best for quick tackling of spills or daily upkeep of a certain high-traffic spot, like near a door, with no clicking around in the app required past simply dragging a box to the desired area. Groundbreaking.

While the Shark Matrix 2-in-1 would be fine in fully carpeted rooms, it's probably best for homes without a heavy rug situation, as the bot requires you to manually point out rugs or carpets in the app and can't vacuum while the water tank is attached.

No tea, no shade: Shark wasn't a huge threat in the robot vacuum market until it strapped all of its affordable robot vacuums with Matrix cleaning mode. The wet and dry cleaning of the Shark Matrix Plus is the best way to experience it without paying for Shark's absolute fanciest robot vacuum. Though the cleaning obviously wasn't as deep as the more premium Shark PowerDetect that came out more than a year later, the Matrix Plus 2-in-1 always did a sufficient job at light daily upkeep of kitty litter and long hairs on my bathroom floor and crushed crumbs on my low pile living room rug. In fact, I found myself reaching for this Shark over the similarly-priced Roombas that I was testing at the same time — they were missing debris way more often.

Like the other Matrix model mentioned above, this Shark Matrix Plus embodies the "and one for good measure" approach by cleaning the targeted area from multiple angles. Unlike the other Matrix model mentioned above, this one also mops. In Matrix mode, the pad vibrates 100 times per minute to scrub at droplets that more basic 2-in-1 robot vacuums with stationary clothes kind of just gloss over.

If you absolutely must have the iRobot name under your roof, the Roomba 105 series vacuums are iRobot's most advanced and fairly-priced entry-level robot vacuums to date. They'd be ideal for the crowd who is totally fine with settling for a not-amazing-but-decent clean if it affordably lightens their chore load. It'd be a fine addition to an apartment or small space with low foot traffic and relatively simple layouts.

It's also nice that you can customize your choice to the features you need in your house — and how much you want to spend. There are four versions of the Roomba 105: a standalone mopping and non-mopping version, and a self-emptying mopping and non-mopping version. They all have huge discounts quite often, dropping both standalone models below $200 and both self-emptying models below $300.

To be real, any random Roomba you could pick out is probably being upstaged by a different brand's robot vacuum with the same price tag. But if you insist on trying a Roomba, the 2025 Roomba 105 series vacuums definitely offer better bang for your buck over any of the low-budget Roombas.

The most impactful upgrade from the i5 to the 105 lies in suction power: The Roomba 105 offers 60 times the suction of 600 series Roombas like the Roomba 694 or Roomba 675, while the Roomba i5 offers just 10 times the power of the 600 series. This translates to 7,000 Pa in suction power for the 105 (a metric that iRobot hadn't used until this 2025 round of Roombas.) On my apartment's hard floors, the 105 had a commendable track record for the price — it sucked up most tracked kitty litter and spilled protein powder, and grabbed all but one or two heavy pieces of dry cat food. On rugs, most loose crumbs and visible fuzzies were taken care of, though matted down cat fur required a second pass from a stick vacuum.

iRobot also finally shifted to LiDAR-based smart mapping with its 2025 Roombas, which ultimately just means faster, more precise room mapping. The Roomba 105 successfully made it to the selected rooms and zones in my apartment 95 percent of the time, despite the new Roomba Home app being significantly more basic than the old one.