Robot vacuums and stick vacuums: what to compare
By Venkata Siva Ramakrishna Naidu. Published 2026-10-20. Updated 2026-10-20.
How we choose products: rows come from in-stock affiliate feeds that have a name, a price, and a photo when the shop sent one. We do not test the products, and a higher commission does not move a shop up the list.
A vacuum listing is easy to overbuy. Separate robot vacuums from stick vacuums, then compare the floor you have, not the largest number on the box.
Pick the machine type before the brand
A stick vacuum is a cordless upright you carry. It suits flats and quick daily cleans. Runtime and the size of the dust bin decide whether you finish the flat on one charge. A robot vacuum drives itself and suits open floor with a map it can learn. It is poor at cables, thick rugs, and pet accidents unless you have already checked those limits. Do not compare a robot’s price with a stick’s price as if they were the same job.
Uprights with a cable still make sense for a whole house and for carpets. They are heavier and they need a socket. If the category mixes all three, filter with the product name. ‘Robot’, ‘stick’, and ‘upright’ are different purchases.
Floors, hair, and bins
Hard floors want a soft roller that does not scatter grit. Short-pile carpet wants a brush that agitates. Long hair and pet hair wrap around rollers; a roller you can open without a screwdriver is worth more than an extra hundred watts on a sticker. Wattage and ‘pascal’ figures are not comparable across brands. Use them only to tell two versions of the same model apart.
Bin size is the spec people notice after a week. A tiny bin on a robot means you empty it every day in a house with pets. A self-empty dock removes that chore and adds a large price and a large box. Only pay for the dock if you know you will not empty a bin. Check the listing says the dock is included. Some cheap rows are the robot alone.
Batteries and what breaks
Cordless machines die when the battery will no longer hold a charge. A replaceable battery, and a brand that still sells that battery in the UK, matters more than a one-year longer warranty written in small print you cannot enforce from a marketplace seller. Mains machines avoid that failure and trade it for a cable you have to manage.
Filters and brushes are consumables. A listing that includes a spare filter is a small difference, not a different product. Confirm on the shop’s page that the spares match the model number. Model families often share a name and differ by one suffix.
Using the catalogue without fooling yourself
Look for two or more live UK offers before you treat a vacuum page as a comparison. One offer is a single shop. Visit retailer is the affiliate hop to that shop. Check the voltage is UK, the plug is UK, and the returns window is one you would actually use. A very low price on an unknown shop is often a different bundle or a grey import.
Titles in another language, replica-style wording, and wholesale marketplaces are not useful UK comparisons. The site hides those patterns from the UK view when it can see them. If one still appears, skip it. Do not chase an 80 percent badge. Those badges are suppressed when the was-price looks like a fixed multiple of the real price.
A short decision list
Write down hard floor, carpet, or both; pets or no pets; and whether you will empty a bin. That chooses stick, robot, or a corded upright. Then compare live prices for one model number across shops. Ignore accessory bundles unless you wanted the accessories.
This guide does not rank Dyson against a supermarket brand from a test we did not run. It tells you which facts to read on the listing and on the shop’s page. The category link below shows whatever the feed has today.
Stairs, cars, and the tool you will actually clip on
A stick vacuum lives or dies by the tools in the box. A stair tool, a crevice tool, and a small brush cover skirting, car seats, and the gap beside the sofa. If the title says ‘vacuum only’ or the photo shows a bare tube, assume the tools are a separate line and a separate price. Match the model number, then read whether the wall dock and the extra heads are included. Two rows with the same brand and a similar name are often a base unit and a bundle.
Weight matters on stairs more than motor watts printed on the box. If you cannot comfortably lift the machine to the landing, a lighter stick or a robot for the open floor plus a cheap corded machine for stairs is a calmer plan than one heavy ‘do everything’ unit. Corded cylinders still make sense in a house with pets and a lot of hair, because you are not waiting on a battery and the hose reaches under beds. The catalogue can show both kinds. Sort by what you will use on a Wednesday, not by the longest feature list.
Filters, bags, and the cost you cannot see in the feed
Bagless machines need the bin emptied and the filter washed or replaced. If you dislike that job, a bagged cylinder is the more honest choice. Bags and filters are ongoing buys. The product feed rarely prices them next to the machine. Before you click Visit retailer, check the shop sells the matching filter, or that the brand name on the filter is one you can search later. A machine whose only filters come from a marketplace listing with a misspelt brand name is a poor long-term buy.
Hair wrapped around a brush bar is the ordinary failure, not a dramatic motor fault. A brush you can open without a specialist tool is worth more than a higher watt number. Robot vacuums add a different maintenance list: side brushes, a mop pad if it mops, and a base you have to empty. If the listing is a robot, confirm it is the robot and not a replacement brush sold under a similar photo. Single-line accessory rows are easy to misread when the image is a round machine.
Floors in a UK house
Hard floors, rugs, and a mix of both want different heads. A soft roller can be kinder to hardwood and hopeless on a thick hall rug. A robot that cannot cross a threshold between the kitchen tile and the hall carpet will simply stop. Look for a mention of floor types in the title or on the retailer page. If it is missing, the listing is thin. We would rather you open a page with two UK shops and a photo than a single image-less row.
Flats and terraces share walls. A robot that runs while you are out is only useful if you are allowed to leave it, and if it will not trap itself on a cable. Pick up loose leads before you rely on one. A stick you can grab for a spill is the machine most kitchens actually need. Use the vacuum category to see which of those shapes have more than one live shop, and ignore any title that reads like a different product translated badly or stuffed with ‘replica’ language. Those rows are not part of the public comparison.
Battery life as a shopping question
Manufacturers quote a runtime on the lowest setting with a new battery. Real use on carpet with the brush on is shorter. You do not need a lab figure to shop carefully. Ask whether the model has a removable battery you can swap, or a dock that charges the machine on the wall so it is ready. A battery sealed inside a cheap stick is the whole product. When it fades, you replace the vacuum.
If two shops list the same model and one price is far below the other, read the titles again before you celebrate. One may be a refurbished unit, a bare tool without the dock, or a different voltage sold for another country. UK plugs and a UK warranty card are the version you want. Visit retailer, confirm the plug and who handles a fault, then buy there. The hop is an affiliate link. The price you pay is the shop’s price, not a price we add a fee to.
Visit retailer links on the category pages are affiliate links. Read the affiliate disclosure.