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We’ve updated our recommendations to include the Dyson V8 Fluffy, a newer version of the cordless vacuum we previously recommended.
We’ve highlighted the key features of a good hardwood floor vacuum at the top of this guide (spoiler: it doesn’t take much to clean wood floors well).
Any vacuum can clean hardwood floors—this is the simplest possible task for a vacuum cleaner. You don’t need anything special to get dust, hair, crumbs, or anything else off your wood, tile, or laminate floors. But some vacuums do it a little better than others. To avoid scattering debris or possibly damaging sensitive flooring, look for a model that either lets you switch off the spinning brush roll or has a special soft-fabric brush roll or no brush roll at all.
Although hardwood floors are the easiest thing to vacuum, strong suction is still key to cleaning them quickly and thoroughly.
To avoid scattering debris, you should be able to turn off the carpet-cleaning brush roll, if the vacuum has one.
Our longtime favorite upright vacuum works well for most homes, with adjustable features that make it effective on both hardwood floors and other surfaces.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $200.
Our favorite all-around vacuum—for any type of flooring—is the Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV352, a reasonably priced and durable machine that has always performed very well in our cleaning tests on all surfaces, including bare floors. You can toggle the brush roll on or off, so it won’t send hard debris like cat litter or breakfast cereal shooting across the room when you’re cleaning wood, linoleum, or tile. Even if you need to clean only bare floors right now, choosing this Shark is a good way to future-proof your vacuum purchase in case you end up needing to clean rugs or carpets someday.
This nimble vacuum for hardwood floors and low-pile carpeting includes tools designed to do the job right. It has given one Wirecutter editor a decade of excellent, trouble-free cleaning.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $350.
If you don’t plan to clean rugs (or at least not thick ones), you can get a vacuum that’s purpose-built for cleaning bare floors. These are most often “suction-only” models, without a brush roll. One suction-only vacuum that we’re really fond of is the Miele Classic C1 Pure Suction. Miele canister vacuums are known to last for decades, run quieter than almost any other vacuum, and have great filtration. The Classic C1 Pure Suction is the lowest-priced Miele canister model you can buy. It has a suction-only cleaning head (no brush roll) with soft bristles around the edges that let it glide smoothly across bare floors. The strong suction allows it to work pretty well on low-pile rugs, too.
This variant of one of our favorite cordless vacuums comes with a specialized soft-fabric cleaning head that’s excellent at cleaning all types of debris from any type of bare floor. This model won’t work well on rugs, but Dyson Absolute variants can.
May be out of stock
*At the time of publishing, the price was $459.
A vacuum with a soft-fabric brush roll is another effective way to clean bare floors. Rather than trying to agitate and fling debris, as a typical brush roll does, the fluffy cylinder of a soft-fabric roll essentially hugs debris as it moves from the floor to the vacuum intake. The design works great for everything from fine, dusty debris all the way up to some big yard waste, like leaves and mulch. Several brands make these kinds of cleaning heads, but we have the most experience using Dyson’s, which we’ve found to be decent. The cordless Dyson V8 Fluffy gets the job done (and normally for less than $500), but it won’t work well on rugs because of its special head. If you need one vacuum that can work both on bare floors and on carpets, consider the Dyson V8 Absolute, which comes with a soft-fabric head plus a separate, standard stiff-bristle head that’s excellent on rugs.
You might also consider a robot vacuum. Most robovacs are great at cleaning bare floors—they’re arguably better than any human-powered vacuums because they persistently work longer hours without getting bored and find dust in hidden spaces that people usually ignore. Read more about these in our guide to the best robot vacuums.
Our longtime favorite upright vacuum works well for most homes, with adjustable features that make it effective on both hardwood floors and other surfaces.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $200.
This nimble vacuum for hardwood floors and low-pile carpeting includes tools designed to do the job right. It has given one Wirecutter editor a decade of excellent, trouble-free cleaning.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $350.
This variant of one of our favorite cordless vacuums comes with a specialized soft-fabric cleaning head that’s excellent at cleaning all types of debris from any type of bare floor. This model won’t work well on rugs, but Dyson Absolute variants can.
May be out of stock
*At the time of publishing, the price was $459.
Liam McCabe has covered vacuums of all types for Wirecutter since 2013, including uprights and canisters, cordless sticks, robot vacuums, and handhelds. He has tested more than 100 models in that time, on all kinds of surfaces—including plenty of wood, linoleum, laminate, and tile. Michelle Ma wrote a previous version of this guide.
Any decent vacuum can keep hardwood floors tidy. Keep in mind, however, that with a cheaper model, you might have to make two or three passes, and it might not grab the smallest (fine dust) or largest (yard waste) debris. Certain features can make the job easier, though. As with any vacuum, strong suction and airflow are a huge help in picking up debris on the first try, particularly the very small or large stuff.
Beyond that, you need a vacuum that won’t force you to use a carpet-cleaning brush all the time. A spinning brush roll with stiff bristles is great for rugs because it agitates the carpet fibers, digging up the hair and dust so that the vacuum can suck the stuff up. But this kind of brush can be counterproductive on bare floors because it scatters some kinds of debris before the vacuum can suck it up. In extreme cases, a too-harsh brush can scratch softer types of stone, tile, or wood flooring.
Many vacuums have an on/off switch for their brush rolls, so you can just shut down the brush roller when you’re cleaning bare floors and turn it back on if you transition to a rug. Some models have cleaning heads with no brush rolls at all, while a few others come with a specialty soft-fabric brush roll that’s purpose-built for cleaning bare floors—neither of these types is great on rugs, though some models give you the option to switch between different heads for different surfaces.
Some cleaning heads also have subtle features that help scooch bigger debris toward the vacuum’s intake. These features might include a small apron (or flap) on the sides or near the rear of the head, side-mounted bristles (or even tiny air intakes to corral bits from baseboards and corners), or gates at the front of the head to give passage to big debris (like Froot Loops cereal, for example).
You can read more about what makes for a powerful, versatile vacuum in our guide to plug-in upright and canister vacuums.
Our longtime favorite upright vacuum works well for most homes, with adjustable features that make it effective on both hardwood floors and other surfaces.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $200.
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV352 has been our pick for the best vacuum for seven years running, and it’s a great vacuum for hardwood floors and carpets alike. Its powerful suction cleans both surfaces very well, and smart design features let you easily optimize its performance on each.
The Navigator allows you to turn off its brush roll with an easy flick of the three-position switch. When the brush is powered down, the vacuum doesn’t scatter debris across bare floors.
In our bare-floor tests, the Navigator Lift-Away performed as well as any machine at picking up cat hair, dried chickpeas, ground coffee, shredded paper, sawdust, and sand in just a few passes. We were particularly impressed by how quickly and completely it picked up cat litter from a bare floor (in a single back-and-forth pass). The Shark’s side-suction performance (that is, its ability to pick up debris from the left and right sides of the floorhead) also stood out: It picked up almost all of the lentils and cat litter we had scattered into a corner and up against baseboards, outperforming even some high-end vacuums we’ve tested in that regard.
The Navigator Lift-Away is a great vacuum in a lot of other important ways, too. It’s lighter and easier to steer than most uprights at this price, and its low-profile cleaning head and lift-away canister can help it get into more hard-to-reach areas than usual. We haven’t found it to be prone to clogs, and it also comes apart in more places than most uprights, so if it does clog it’ll be easy to fix. The NV352 has been available for about 10 years and has an above-average track record for reliability and durability, with lots of replaceable parts that are usually in stock, plus a five-year warranty that Shark has been pretty decent about honoring. The most common complaints are that it “snowplows” larger particles (think Froot Loops), pushing them around with the cleaning head rather than sucking them up, and that it has a tendency to tip over if you yank the hose too hard, due to the narrow cleaning head and top-heavy body.
To learn more about the Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV352, check out our guide to the best upright and canister vacuums.
We don’t actually like super-cheap stick vacuums, but if you have only bare floors to tidy, this super-basic vacuum will do the job quicker than a broom and is not much more expensive. It’s a suction-only vacuum, with no brush roll for cleaning rugs.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $58.
Any vacuum without a brush roll works pretty well on bare floors—even a bargain-bin model like the Bissell Featherweight 2033. We aren’t really endorsing this vacuum, but if you want something for the occasional easy cleanup, this Bissell works fine.
The Bissell Featherweight is impressively lightweight and conveniently bagless, and it converts into a (corded) handheld vacuum. It has solid ratings on the websites of most retailers, and cleaning with it is definitely easier than using a broom.
But this Bissell snowplows big debris, can’t suck the fine dust out from the cracks in your floorboards, and might take a few passes for the weak-ish suction to pick up heavier debris like breakfast cereal or even cat litter. Obviously, it’s near-worthless on almost any kind of rug, apart from grabbing surface-level debris on flatweave. And surprise, surprise: It’s not a well-built, durable product, either. You’re usually better off spending more money on a better vacuum, but if you need a cheap backup stick vac, the Featherweight is okay.
This nimble vacuum for hardwood floors and low-pile carpeting includes tools designed to do the job right. It has given one Wirecutter editor a decade of excellent, trouble-free cleaning.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $350.
The Miele Classic C1 Pure Suction is the most basic, lowest-priced vacuum in Miele’s extensive lineup of canister vacuums. Although it doesn’t work well on thick rugs, it’s exceptionally effective and comfortable to use on bare floors.
The C1 series uses the same 1,200-watt motor that’s found in fancier Miele models (including our upgrade pick for carpets, the Complete C3 Calima), and the same dust-trapping bags and air filter. It uses the AllTeQ floorhead, which features bristles that you can extend or retract, so it’s excellent on bare floors and solid on flat-weave or low-pile rugs, too. The wide floorhead does a superb job of digging dust and pet hair out of cracks and grout lines. (The vacuum is even strong enough to pull debris out of short rugs.) And because the floorhead has no roller, let alone an electric motor, it’s lightweight, low-profile, and easy to maneuver under furniture and into corners.
We haven’t formally tested this C1, but some Wirecutter staffers own this or a similar model, and we have tested similar Miele canisters for our guide to upright and canister plug-in vacuums. Most of what we say about our test models applies to the C1—they share the same motor and design, with most differences in the floorheads and other accessories. Most important, as we write in that canister-vac guide, “Every industry expert we’ve spoken to (even some from competing brands!) has told us that these are excellent vacuum cleaners, and a few technicians said that they’re simply the best you can buy.” A 20-year life span is not uncommon.
The Miele Classic C1 is much quieter than many vacuums, at 57 to 68 decibels (depending on the power setting)—compare that with 78 decibels on the Shark, which is more typical of a plug-in vacuum. The canister also rolls very quietly and smoothly on all flooring. The C1 is a bagged vacuum, but in most homes (without too many long-haired pets) the filter bags last for months and trap a huge amount of debris before needing replacement (an indicator on the canister tells you when); a box of four costs about $18 and should last a year.
The Classic C1 is covered by an impressive warranty. Only the first year of the warranty is comprehensive (the Compact C1, which is smaller in size and uses a smaller-capacity bag but costs more, gets two years), but it covers the body casing and motor for seven years—one of the longest warranty periods in the industry. Miele also has a wider service network than any other premium vacuum brand, so you’re more likely to find a place capable of patching up your vacuum if it needs a midlife tune-up. (You should still double-check whether there’s a qualified technician near you.)
You can read more about Miele vacuums and why we think they’re often worth the extra cost in our guide to plug-in vacuums.
This variant of one of our favorite cordless vacuums comes with a specialized soft-fabric cleaning head that’s excellent at cleaning all types of debris from any type of bare floor. This model won’t work well on rugs, but Dyson Absolute variants can.
May be out of stock
*At the time of publishing, the price was $459.
Soft-fabric brush rolls (they look like they’re covered in velour) are another good way to clean bare floors. They’re mostly found in cordless vacuums, which tend to have less suction than plug-ins, so the extra cleaning action really helps the performance. Fabric brushes can pick up debris of all sizes, everything from dust to leaves or even small mulch, by “hugging” it toward the intake rather than flinging it across the room. The downsides are that they don’t work well on rugs and that the fabric can get pretty gross over time and isn’t always easy to clean.
If you’re after a cordless vacuum with solid bare-floor performance, we recommend a Dyson V7 or V8 model that comes with the soft-fabric cleaning head (sometimes known as the Fluffy head). Of these, the Dyson V8 Fluffy is usually the most affordable option, though it’s not always widely available. The V8 Absolute is more expensive but comes with both a bristled carpet head and the fabric bare-floor head (among a bunch of other tools). We loved the older Dyson V7 line; V7 models often cost less than other great sticks, clean better, and are still sturdy. But because the V7 vacuums have been removed from Dyson’s lineup, we’ve since recommended the V8 instead.
You can read more about Dyson and other brands of cordless vacuums, and why they’re a treat to use but a huge burden on your bank account, in our guide to cordless stick vacuums.
Dyson released the Omni-Glide, a new style of bare-floor vacuum, in the US in March 2021. The Omni-Glide has two counter-rotating Fluffy soft-fabric brush rolls that are built into a single head equipped with caster wheels. The combination of the microfiber heads and casters, plus the relatively light bodyweight, helps the Omni-Glide move especially smoothly across bare floors—sideways, backwards, turned around, whatever—compared with most other types of vacuums. And the shaft can lie nearly flat, so it can reach far under furniture very easily.
We tested one in a city apartment (apparently the environment the Omni-Glide is designed for), and we weren't too impressed given its $400 price tag. The Omni-Glide is not as effective at cleaning as we expected it to be, based on our experience with other Dyson models that use a Fluffy head. The Omni-Glide didn’t automatically pick up all of the crumbs and road grit it came across. This model flicked some crumbs across the room and couldn’t even reliably suck up tufts of cat hair. And it’s not a matter of raw suction: We measured the Omni-Glide’s suction with a gauge, and it’s similar to—and sometimes stronger than—that of most other cordless vacuums at this price. The cleaning head just seems to be designed less for efficient pickup and more for comfortable, flexible steering.
But the Omni-Glide isn’t even that comfortable to steer. The handle is basically a smooth plastic cylinder with essentially no grip at all—just the faintest hint of a flared knob at the top, but no texture, no molded contours. Both of our testers found that the smooth plastic started to feel slippery after a few minutes of use, and the vacuum generally took more effort to steer than you might think based on Dyson’s promise that “it floats across floors effortlessly.” One of our testers is 6 feet 2 inches, and the Omni-Glide was borderline too short for him to grip comfortably. The 5-foot-3-inch tester found that the handle was a little too thick for her self-described small hands. If you’re using it only for short sessions, it may not be such a big deal. But maybe it could also just have a better handle.
We’re going to pass the Omni-Glide around between a few more staff members to get their impressions. But so far, it seems to fall short of being the elegant (if very expensive) solution to bare-floor cleaning that we’d hoped it would be.
Weak vacuums can get bare floors tidy if you’re patient enough to clean slowly and persistently. Robot vacuums are better at this task than humans are: Although they don’t have much suction, they never get bored or distracted. The result is that they often end up picking up more stuff than even the best human-driven vacuums. Any of the options in our guide to the best robot vacuums can do a great job of keeping floors clean.
If it’s real hardwood, scratches are rare unless the vacuum itself is damaged. On softer types of stone, tile, or wood flooring, though, a brush roll with abrasive bristles or hard plastic wheels can cause damage.
They get just as dusty as rugs do, but it’s more obvious on bare floors. Here’s a great video from Veritasium on what dust is made out of—it tends to be a lot of dead skin and, ironically, carpet fibers.
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away is an affordable, easy-to-use bagless upright vacuum that works very well on both bare floors and rugs.
Liam McCabe is a former senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since 2011. After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars. He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times.
For a dependable, versatile, and affordable cleaner, we prefer a bagless upright, but we have recommendations for other types of vacuums as well.
Keeping your hardwood floors looking great requires only a small amount of effort.
by Michelle Ma, Liam McCabe, and Sarah Bogdan
We’ve tested dozens of plug-in vacuums over the years, and the Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV352 has remained our favorite since 2014.
Power cords got you wound up? We’ve tested dozens of cordless vacuums, and the Tineco Pure One S11 offers the best combo of comfort, cleaning power, and price.
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