Not all robot vacuums will work on carpet — some run in confused circles, others will shred up rugs, and a few simply will not clean at all. While they won’t pick up as much as a strong upright vacuum might, these robot vac picks will suck up the gunk from your carpet and rugs with minimal work on your part. Because when it comes to carpet, you can’t rely on a Swiffer.

Best for thick carpet

iRobot Roomba s9+

The iRobot s9+ is top of its class in suction power and smart features, and would be ideal for homes with thick carpeting — if you’re willing to pay the high price for it.

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Robot vacuums have become our mini housekeepers, and over the past few years, they’ve only gotten more powerful, with more smart features, and in some cases, more expensive. Whether you have a crazy work schedule or a large home that needs some extra cleaning, a robot vacuum will take some of the load off your hands. Vacuums with smart features let you schedule cleaning while you’re out, control them with your voice, and even set which rooms should and shouldn’t be cleaned.

But if your home is mostly carpeting or if you have a lot of rugs laying around, you might be wondering if a robot vacuum will actually clean them, or if it’ll become more of a hassle for you to deal with (plenty of robot vacs are known for getting stuck in weird places, confused by dark flooring, or refusing to transition from hardwood floors to carpet). 

With Prime Day season in full swing, with sales on robot vacuums from Amazon, Walmart, and more, it’s a good time to buy. 

Are robot vacuums good on carpet?

Some robot vacuums can clean carpet and rugs, but not all were designed to handle cleaning your floor coverings. Some robot vacuums simply have too little suction or too little clearance to properly handle thick, high-pile carpet. When choosing a vacuum, you’ll want to look on each robot vacuum’s product page to find out what carpet height it can handle. While most suggest only low-pile carpet or flat-weave rugs, some vacs like those from Eufy can handle up to medium-pile, and some of the pricier models (notably from Roomba and Shark) will do max suction on thick carpeting, too. 

As a general rule of thumb, upright vacuum cleaners have more suction power than small robot vacuums, and you’ll do a better job of thorough cleaning than most robot vacuums will. But if you simply have too much carpet or too many rugs to keep clean, a robot vacuum can help you outsource some of the effort. You’ll want to look for models with high suction (around 1400 to 2000Pa) to ensure you’re removing dirt, crumbs, and pet hair from your carpets. Anything lower won’t do a very exhaustive clean, and you might end up with carpets that are still gunked up. 

Dual brushes and automatic cleaning brushes are a fantastic added bonus for carpeting, too. If you have a dog that sheds like a monster or a roommate who has enough hair for everyone in the household, chances are that hair will get deeply embedded into your carpet. Normal vacuums tend to get the hair tangled up in the brushroll, but robot vacuums with dual brushes or self-cleaning brushes will help you avoid this problem altogether (and seriously, who wants to yank long hair out of a vacuum? That’s gross). 

Models with automatic carpet sensing are a plus, too. This feature is ideal for homes with both hard floor and carpeting, since the robot will know when it’s on the carpet and adjust the suction strength to be stronger, picking up even more crud from deep within the fibers of the carpet. More suction on carpets and rugs mean less dust, dander, and allergies, too, so you can finally stop sneezing in your house. 

Will a Roomba ruin your carpet?

Generally speaking, a Roomba is unlikely to ruin your carpet. However, things that you might want to watch out for are loose carpet strings and rugs with fringed ends, as some non-Roomba bots will try to suck these up and promptly get stuck on them, potentially damaging your floor coverings.

If your home has a lot of decorative rugs with fringe, the best choice is the iRobot Roomba i3. Many user reviews say that this robot vacuum will glide right over the decorative hems on rugs without sucking them up or getting stuck. So that vintage heirloom rug you have in the living room? It’ll most likely be fine with the iRobot Roomba i3, but other bots with stronger suction might try to slurp it up. 

Which is better: Shark or Roomba?

Both are good, which is why you’ll see both brands on this list. Roombas tend to feel sturdier on the outside, with some seriously strong suction power — but the downside is that they’re expensive, loud, and are prone to technology bugs. Shark robot vacuums, on the other hand, might feel a little bit less durable on the outside but are fantastic for quieter cleaning, and still offer smart features at a lower price point. Shark vacuums do sometimes get lost though, as documented in this hilarious TikTok video, so take note of that if you have a very large home with lots of spaces for your robot vacuum to hide. 

Overall, both robot vacuum brands offer smart features, solid navigation, and strong suction, so making the choice between a Shark and a Roomba will depend on your desired price point and noise tolerance. 

Which robot vacuum works best on carpet?

Based on in-depth research and reviews, we think the Shark IQ Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty base will do a quality job on most carpeting. While the iRobot Roomba s9+ might offer the most comprehensive clean and the strongest suction, the price point is a huge downside. At half the price of the s9+, the Shark IQ offers smart navigation, total home mapping, a self-emptying base, and a ton of smart features that will improve the cleaning setup of any home, big or small. 

If you’re looking for specifics and more of our top picks, check out the full list of robot vacuums for carpet below.


Quiet clean • Spinning side brushes • Self-empyting bin • Solid suction • Moves from hard floors to carpeting smoothly
Reviews say that sometimes the robot can’t find the base
The Shark IQ is cheaper than higher end Roomba models, has intuitive smart features, and has enough suction for homes with hairy pets or long-haired roommates.

Shark IQ Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base

The Shark IQ is the best value for a self-emptyting robot vacuum that does double duty on carpet and has a self-cleaning brushrolll.

  • Runtime:
    90 minutes
  • Voice control compatible?:
    Yes, Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Suction power:
    2000Pa
  • Navigation:
    IQ Navigation with total home mapping
  • App connected:
    Yes
  • Dimensions:
    19.25 x 15 x 10.2 inches

If you want to totally forget about vacuuming for up to a month at a time, the Shark IQ is the household helper you need. It has a self-cleaning brushroll to reduce hair wrap, a self-emptying base, and fast mapping for an optimized clean. You can control it from an Alexa or Google Assistant-enabled device for full smart home integration, too.
The suction is also powerful enough to really clean your carpets, and will pick up surface-level debris on the first run. An added bonus? The multi-stage filtration system that traps dust, dander, and pet hair, so you can keep your home free of allergens. 


Won’t suck up fringe on rugs • Works at night and on dark carpets • Dual rubber brushes
Loud on hardwood floors • Doesn’t save maps once they’re made
For homes with a lot of carpeting, the Roomba i3 is reliable and efficient.

iRobot Roomba i3

Homes that are mostly carpeted will appreciate the Roomba i3’s dual rubber brushes and smart sensor technology.

  • Runtime:
    75 minutes
  • Voice control compatible:
    Yes, Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Suction power:
    10 times suction power of Roomba 600 series
  • Navigation:
    Smart navigation and home mapping
  • App connected:
    Yes
  • Dimensions:
    13.34 x 13.26 x 3.63 inches

For homes with a lot of wall-to-wall carpeting, the Roomba i3 is the best option. It has dual multi-surface rubber brushes that won’t get tangled with hair and flex/adjust to stay in contact with rugs and carpets for the entire vacuuming session. It’s ideal for homes with pets and carpet too, thanks to a high-efficiency filter that will trap allergens and dander.
The Roomba i3 was designed to work at night, so if you’ve ever dreamed of waking up to a clean living room in the morning, this iRobot will make that a reality. It doesn’t get confused by dark or black carpeting or rugs either, unlike other models that might detect them as a cliff. It’s less likely to get stuck under furniture, too, thanks to Reactive Sensor Technology that lets the robot know where it can and can’t fit. 


Self-emptying base • Super strong suction • Good at cleaning corners and near walls
Loud • More expensive than other models
If you have carpet that’s 5/8 inch high or lower, the Roomba s9+ will give you the most in depth clean of any robot vacuum.

iRobot Roomba s9+

The iRobot s9+ is top of its class in suction power and smart features, and would be ideal for homes with thick carpeting — if you’re willing to pay the high price for it.

  • Runtime:
    120 minutes
  • Voice control compatible?:
    Yes, Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Suction power:
    2500Pa
  • Navigation:
    vSLAM navigation with home mapping
  • App connected:
    Yes
  • Dimensions:
    12.25 x 12.25 x 3.5 inches

The Roomba s9+ is truly the top-tier robot vacuum on the market — with a steep price tag to match. It has an insane 2500Pa suction power  (the strongest of any Roomba), making this the model to buy if your home is full of plush carpeting. The D-shape of this vacuum and the corner brush make it really good at getting into corners and close to walls for a more complete clean. The s9+ takes emptying the dustbin off your hands too — the self-emptying base can hold 60 days of dirt, dust, and debris, so you’ll only need to empty it out a handful of times per year. 
The advanced sensors and navigation make it easy for the s9+ to learn your home’s layout. It’s able to distinguish between different rooms of the house, so you can send it to a specific room if there’s a mess, and it learns the more you use it, offering customized cleaning plans. 


Works at night • Efficient on low-pile carpets • Cleans corners well • Wide brush for more cleaning per run
Better on carpet than hardwood floors • Might have trouble with dark colored carpets • Lower suction than other vacs
For users with mostly low-pile carpeting, the Neato Robotics D4 robot vacuum offers detailed cleaning and intuitive features, like no-go areas and laser navigation.

Neato Robotics D4 Laser Guided Smart Robot Vacuum

  • Runtime:
    75 minutes
  • Voice control compatible:
    Yes, Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Suction power:
    1400Pa
  • Navigation:
    LaserSmart mapping and navigation
  • App connected:
    Yes
  • Dimensions:
    13.21 x 12.56 x 3.92 inches

Another D-shaped robot vacuum, the Neato Robotics D4 offers smart mapping at a price that won’t empty your wallet. It cleans in straight lines, allows you to set no-go boundaries, and will really get built-up dust out of corners. It has a large 11-inch combo brush that will cover more carpet in a single run than most Roomba models, and uses laser navigation to map out cleaning sessions.
This vacuum has excellent user reviews for carpet compared to some other top competitors, but definitely would be best suited to homes with low pile carpets and rugs. It tends to take up a lot of battery life on high and medium pile carpets and rugs though (and might not finish the job), but thinner carpeting is no problem. Reviews also say that it’s generally better on carpets than hardwood or tile floors, so keep that in mind if you have a combination of the two at home.  


Strong suction • Good transitions • Smart control features • Works on hard floors, low-pile carpet, and medium-pile carpet • Quiet
Bounce navigation
If you’re willing to give up the smart navigation, this Eufy RoboVac will put in some serious work for homes that have both carpets and hard flooring.

eufy by Anker, BoostIQ RoboVac 15C MAX

Smooth transitions, strong suction, and smart controls make the Eufy RoboVac 15C MAX a strong choice for homes with hard floors and carpeting.

  • Runtime:
    100 minutes
  • Suction power:
    2000Pa
  • Navigation:
    Bounce navigation
  • App connected:
    Yes
  • Voice control compatible:
    Yes, Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Dimensions:
    12.8 x 12.8 x 2.85 inches

If you’re looking to spend less money on a robot vacuum and can live without some of the bells and whistles of the higher-end versions, this Eufy RoboVac is a good middle ground. 
While it lacks smart navigation (it runs on a random bounce cleaning pattern), you’ll still be able to use voice control, app control, and set custom cleaning schedules. It’s great on carpet since it has BoostIQ technology, which automatically turns on higher suction when needed, and the large wheels make transitions from hard floors to carpet seamless. It also boasts an impressive 2000Pa of suction power, so carpet grime will be easily banished. 

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