The Best Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner

To keep things tidy, most homes will need a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner that you choose can make a big difference in ensuring that the cleaning process is as quick and efficient as possible.

Below you can find the top upright bagless vacuum cleaners on the market.

What is an upright bagless vacuum cleaner?

If you’re looking for a new vacuum cleaner, you’ve got a few choices to make, and the style of vacuum that’s best for you will depend heavily on how you’re going to be using it.

A big part of that depends on your home: if you live in a big place with a lot of carpet, the best vacuum cleaner for you will be different compared to someone living in a small apartment with wooden flooring.

Beyond that, there are a variety of reasons why someone might choose one style of vacuum over another, including allergies and environmental concerns, so there’s a lot to think about. It’s worth doing the thinking though because the difference a quality, suitable vacuum cleaner can make to housework shouldn’t be underestimated.

One key decision to be made is whether you want an upright vacuum cleaner or a canister model. Upright vacuum cleaners are just that: they stand upright, with an intake port at floor level which sucks up dust and debris into a central compartment. If it’s not a bagless vacuum, this compartment will contain a removable dust bag.

A canister vacuum cleaner works in the same way, but the main body of vacuum – the canister, which contains the motor and the dust compartment – is separate from the intake port, which is connected to the canister via a flexible hose.

This makes canister vacuum cleaners smaller and lighter than upright models, which has benefits when it comes to getting into difficult places and storing the vacuum after use.

Unfortunately, this smaller size also means canister vacuums have a smaller storage capacity than upright vacuums, meaning you’ll be emptying it that much more often. The angle upright vacuums work at, coupled with the brushes usually present on their intake ports, also make them a better choice on carpets.

The second choice to narrow down your vacuum cleaner options is between bagged and bagless. The difference is simple: bagged vacuums use removable dust bags, making emptying the vacuum cleaner at full capacity a straightforward and mess-free task.

Bagless vacuums have no dust bag; instead they use a detachable container which is emptied directly into the trash. If you’re worried about running costs, environmental impact, or both, the fact that you won’t be regularly purchasing replacement dust bags is a real benefit. Clear dust compartments are a bonus, making it easy to see when it’s time to empty the vacuum.

Another option, now more and more common, is to opt for a cordless vacuum cleaner instead of a conventional vacuum which needs to be plugged in to use.

Cordless vacuum cleaners are, by their nature, easier to maneuver and store. But issues with battery life are unfortunately still common, and the fact that you can plug in a corded vacuum and start hoovering immediately will be a big help to those of us who don’t always remember to charge our appliances.

Upright bagless vacuum cleaners are available corded and cordless, so if you’ve decided upright and bagless is the way to go, you can weigh up the benefits and drawbacks of both types.

Why choose an upright bagless vacuum cleaner?

Upright bagless vacuum cleaners are only one of the options available if you’re looking for a new vacuum cleaner, but there are a lot of reasons why they might be the right choice for you.

• They work wonders on heavy carpets. The integrated design (with the intake port close to the motorized fan) and the thick brushes on the intake port combine to get dust and debris out of thick pile carpets. They don’t only work on heavy carpets, of course – they’ll do an equally impressive job on carpet of any thickness, and some might work on hard floors as well.
• You can see when it’s time for a change. With a clear plastic dust compartment, it’s easy to see when the vacuum cleaner is close to full capacity. As suction power goes down (because the dust compartment fills up), a vacuum with a full dust compartment is noticeably worse at its job than an empty one, so knowing the right time to empty is a real help.
• They’re eco-friendly. This will make more of a difference to some people than others, but it’s worth thinking about. The dust bags in canister vacuums are mostly made out of paper, so a mass shift to bagless vacuums would have real savings in terms of resources and energy. If living as sustainably as possible is important to you, the choice is clear.
• They’re in the happy middle ground in terms of capacity. Whilst it’s generally the case that the dust compartments in bagless vacuums (usually made of hard plastic) can’t match the storage capacity of dust bags, it’s also true that upright vacuums boast superior capacity to canister models. By opting for an upright bagless vacuum, you’re getting a vacuum cleaner that’s in the happy middle ground in terms of capacity.
• There’s no loss of suction compared to bagged vacuums. This hasn’t always been the case, and bagless vacuums were slow to take off for this very reason. But improvements in design have seen bagless vacuums catch up to their bagged cousins in terms of suction power.
• You’ll save on running costs. For the same reason that bagless vacuum cleaners are eco-friendly, they’re cheaper to run than a bagged equivalent in the long run. Even if you only change the bag once a month (less often than most manufacturers recommend), and buy inexpensive dust bags, that’s still at least fifty dollars a year which could be saved with a bagless vacuum cleaner.

Things to consider

If you’ve decided that an upright bagless vacuum cleaner is the way to keep your home clean, there are a few things to keep in mind when you’re comparing different models.

• Suction power and efficiency. The whole point of a vacuum cleaner is to suck up dust and dirt, so the suction power a vacuum can generate is hugely important. This isn’t just down to the power the vacuum can generate: if the intake port is too small, or its brushes are cheaply made, then poor design will translate to poor suction.
• Capacity. How much dust will fit in the dust compartment before the vacuum cleaner starts to lose suction power? How much before it’s at full capacity? This is particularly important if you have a big place, because having to stop vacuuming halfway through to empty the compartment will make it more of a chore than it needs to be.
• Weight. If you’re a professional strongman, then you can probably skip over this point, but for the rest of us, the weight of a vacuum cleaner will make a real difference. This is especially true if you live somewhere with multiple stories: trying to vacuum the stairs with a heavy vacuum cleaner is a particularly onerous task. If you’re able to lift the vacuum cleaner easily when necessary, getting into hard to reach places will be a lot easier.
• Maneuverability. Weight plays its part in this, but shape and design are also important. Try and picture the vacuum cleaner in your home: is it going to get into the nooks and crannies? How easy is it going to be getting around all the rooms? If yours is a big home, this might be where cordless vacuums start to look attractive.
• Noise level. If you’ve got sensitive pets (or super-sensitive neighbors), pay close attention to what the manufacturer claims – and what consumers say – about the vacuum’s noise level. This is an area where there can be surprising differences from one vacuum to the next, so if a noisy vacuum is going to be a problem for you, then this bears thinking about.
• Ease of disposal. How simple is it to remove the dust compartment, empty it (into the bin or outside), then put it back in its place? How much of a mess does it make in the process? The best bagless vacuum cleaners will have dust compartments designed to minimise the dust cloud that inevitably rises when you empty out the compartment.
• Surfaces. Most upright bagless vacuum cleaners will have the power and flexibility to do a job on any household surface, while doing a superior job on carpet due to the brushes over the intake port. That said, different vacuums will work better on certain surfaces, so if your place is entirely decked out in linoleum, getting a vacuum cleaner that’s best on carpets might not be the optimum choice.

Risks and warnings

There are a number of good reasons to consider choosing an upright bagless vacuum cleaner but they do have some drawbacks, including the release of dust which usually accompanies emptying out the dust compartment.

Take care when emptying the dust compartment so as to minimise the release of allergens into the air, particularly if you suffer with allergies. If you know dust in the air is really going to cause aggravation, you might even want to consider wearing a face mask to do this.

You should also be regularly emptying your bagless vacuum cleaner (before the dust compartment reaches full capacity) to avoid clogging the inner workings of the vacuum, which can be hard to get at to clean.