If you’re looking for the best upright vacuum cleaner, you’ve come to the right place. I found the top five best-selling models that are also the best performing.

Introduction

Upright vacuum cleaners are great for cleaning carpeting. They can provide consistently strong suction that gets your carpet cleaned, and then fluffed up to look good as new. It’s important to vacuum at least once a week to keep your carpets in good condition.

I have to be honest and say that upright vacuums are not the best for stairs. You have to move it for each stair, and if there’s no wand, you won’t get the rise area of the carpeting vacuumed.

Finally, if you have a lot of hard flooring, you’d be better off with a stick vacuum or a robotic vacuum as it’s gentler on the wood surface. Some upright vacuums have the ability to turn off the motorized beater brush and turn into an electric broom. If you have a variety of flooring in your home, definitely look for this feature.

Our Top Five

I chose these because they had the best reliability, were from solid companies, and had excellent ratings. I personally prefer bagless

And I looked for an affordable price-point. Most of these vacuums are under $250 and will last you a good long time.

I also tried to find upright vacuums with a detachable wand. This gives you more flexibility when cleaning those cobwebs up on the ceiling. And I’m vertically challenged, so I need that wand to extend as long as possible.

Personally, I prefer vacuums that have HEPA filters to cut down on allergens. No point in keeping your house clean if you’re sneezing with all the dust it kicks up. But if you don’t want the maintenance of replacing the HEPA filter, there are some good upright vacuum choices for you that have other fun features.

Shark Rotator Professional Lift-Away

The Shark Rotator Professional Lift-Away is an Amazon’s Choice award winner. In a nutshell, that means Amazon sells a lot of them, doesn’t get many returns, and overall, the reviews are very positive.

This upright vacuum is unique in that you can lift a canister vacuum up and out of the upright vacuum allowing you to easily clean stairs. Or your car.

The Shark Rotator has HEPA filter that traps 99.9% of dust and allergens with three filters. Two of them will need to be cleaned every 3 months, and the third needs to be cleaned once a year.

Plus it has LED headlights so you can see where you’re cleaning.

While this is a bit more expensive, you do get great suction power. However, you should be aware that you don’t get accessories. If you want things like the crevice tool, you’ll need to buy them as extras.

Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House

This Hoover is amazing for the price. You get a 25′ power cord that is retractable. And you get a 16′ extension wand for cleaning stairs or upholstery. You do get allergen blocking technology with a HEPA filter and a Carbon filter for odor.

Reviewers loved the strong suction. This vacuum was made for pet owners, and it can pick up animal hair easily. I should give it a try since one of my cats has fur that’s magnetic (well, it FEELS that way when you keep running the vacuum cleaner over it again and again and it just sits there on the carpeting laughing at you)

Dyson Animal 2 Upright

This is the most expensive of the bunch, and I think it’s for a very good reason. The vacuum is very easy to pivot and maneuver around furniture. The Dyson is well known for its super strong and consistent suction.

The Animal 2 also has self-adjusting cleaner heads so it knows when you’re moving from vinyl to carpeting to tile and then to wood flooring.

Dyson provides great support. I had to contact them twice over the years and they’re always super helpful. Even when it’s your fault for, you know, not plugging in the vacuum properly. And by properly, I mean into an electrical outlet that’s controlled by a light switch. So embarrassing.

With the 35′ cord length so you can do a lot of vacuuming before you have to move the cord. And the Animal 2 has an extension wand with additional cleaning heads like an upholstery tool, dusting brush, and crevice tool (and how useful is that when you’ve dropped something where your hands can’t reach.)

Eureka Airspeed Unlimited

The Eureka Airspeed Unlimited has the ability to wind up the 27′ cord for you. No longer will you have to spend time trying to wind up that cord. When you’re done, you unplug it from the wall, press a button, and you’re ready to put the vacuum cleaner away.

There’s also a long 12-foot stretch hose. And you can turn off the brush head for flat surfaces.

Another great feature is that it’s a bagless upright vacuum. It’s easy to dump it out and then easily wash the dust cup. The downside is that there’s no HEPA filter. But it does have very good suction. This is a good upright vacuum if you are on a budget and not worried about allergies.

Dirt Devil Razor

This is the best upright vacuum if you’re in a small place. It does a great job of cleaning your floors and is easy to maneuver. It’s lightweight and smaller so you can store it easily. Plus, it has my favorite feature – a bagless canister so you never have to worry about buying vacuum bags. That can save you a lot of money in the long run.

So Which Is The Best?

A lot of it depends upon your budget and how much dirt, dust, and hair you’re cleaning up on a regular basis. Since I have a bunch of dust and hair issues, I’d go for the Hoover WindTunnel2 as it’s got a lot of the most important features at a really great price.