Independent rankings
The robot vacuums that give up the least for the money, ranked on capability for the money spent and measured against the rest of the catalogue.
Value here is capability per unit of money, measured against every other machine in the catalogue rather than against a price bracket we invented. A cheap robot that cannot map is not good value; a flagship at half the price of the flagship above it usually is.
10 / 111 models evaluated · Updated
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An entry-level robot whose dock washes, dries, refills and empties: 19,000 Pa, anti-tangle brushes, a pad that swings 4 cm, structured light against obstacles, a 75 °C wash and 75 days of dust.
An entry-level full-dock robot: 19,000 Pa with a carpet boost, LiDAR with a single laser, a pad that extends 4 cm and lifts 10.5 mm, 260 minutes a charge, washing, drying, refill and 75 days of dust.
Narwal's entry-level robot with a full dock: 11,000 Pa, LiDAR navigation, twin mops that reach into corners, a dock that empties, washes and dries for 120 days, and anti-tangle brushes.
Narwal's LiDAR flagship of the pad generation: 18,000 Pa, triangular mops that extend to the edge and lift 12 mm, a dirt sensor that mops until clean, two cameras and a quiet all-in-one dock.
The full-dock Dreame of the Polish shop: 19,000 Pa, a lifting rubber brush with TriCut, an AI camera with structured light, a 75 °C wash, refill and detergent, a 395 ml bin and 180 minutes a charge.
A pad mop with a camera: 19,000 Pa, anti-tangle brushes, pads that swing 4 cm and detach for carpet, a 75 °C wash with drying, refill and detergent, 75 days of dust and third-party voice control.
Dreame's mid-range with a fixed turret: 19,000 Pa, dual anti-tangle brushes, camera plus twin-laser 3D structured light, pads that lift, extend and detach, a 75 °C wash and 195 minutes on a charge.
A full-dock Dreame with no camera: 19,000 Pa, a line laser for obstacles, EasyLeap wheels for 22 mm sills, pads that lift 10.5 mm and detach, a 75 °C wash, four maps and 220 minutes a charge.
An entry-level robot that washes and empties: 7,000 Pa, an anti-tangle TriCut brush, pads that swing and lift 10.5 mm, laser obstacle sensing, 260 minutes a charge, air-dried mops and 75 days of dust.
A Saros-shaped Qrevo: 25,000 Pa, a fully retractable LiDAR in an 80 mm body, 12 N spinning mops left in the dock for carpet, a chassis that lifts 20 mm and takes 4 cm double steps, and a 100 °C wash.
Robot vacuum obstacle avoidance from the makers' own figures: bumper, structured light, cameras and depth sensors, and which machines we list have which.
Roborock against Dreame, every robot vacuum of both scored by the same engine: who wins which ranking, where the two differ and which to buy.
Which robot vacuum climbs a 2, 3, 4 or 5 cm door threshold? The makers' own figures for every model we list, ordered by single step and double step.
The five jobs a robot vacuum dock can do, which machines we list do which, what the dust-bag interval means and which dock you actually need.
The robot vacuums under $500 with a self-emptying dock, ranked by manufacturer specifications and American store prices, and what the next $100 adds.