Carpet cleaner

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Between working to pay the bills and taking care of your kids and family, it’s hard to find the time to deep clean your home. Since your carpet is one of the most difficult areas to keep clean in your home, it certainly pays to have one of the best carpet cleaners. True, you could pay someone to clean your carpets or rent an industrial cleaner from the hardware store. But rentals are time-consuming, and professional carpet cleaning is expensive. So which carpet cleaners should you turn to when you've got tough stains stressing you out? 

Following our Best of the Best formula, we turned to 10 top-ranked online reviews in an effort to bring you a consensus list of the most consistently recommended carpet cleaners. Did we fail to mention a product that's left your carpets looking as good as new? Let us know in the comments section below! 

Top 7 Carpet Cleaners Across 10 Online Reviewers

1. Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution

Heating up the top spot on the list of the best carpet cleaners is the Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution. Bissell is truly at the top of its game with the ProHeat 2x Revolution. This powerful carpet-cleaning machine is capable of tackling the dirtiest carpets imaginable, mostly due to Bissell’s built-in heatwave technology that keeps the water in the reservoir warm as you continue cleaning, explains Good Housekeeping. The warm water is proven to help clean your carpets and remove tough, embedded, embarrassing stains.

Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution
Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution (bissell.com)

Bissell packs some serious cleaning power into these ProHeat 2x Revolution carpet cleaning machines. Investing in one of these Bissell machines is a smart move if you have a lot of carpets to clean, pets in your home, or both. CNN calls these machines “the best premium upright carpet cleaner for pet hair,” mostly because these machines include a special attachment designed to completely eliminate pet hair from your carpets. The powerful hose attachment is ideal for homes with pets who shed and whose hair can be difficult to clean up while the heatwave technology blasts away stubborn stains.

The Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution features three cleaning modes: max, deep, and express clean. As The Spruce notes, each cleaning mode is capable of removing pesky wine, coffee, and pet stains from your carpets. Like most upright carpet cleaners, this machine comes with two reservoirs for clean and dirty water. You’ll love that these reservoirs are easily removed and can be quickly replaced to keep you focused on your carpet-cleaning adventures. The brush guard is also removable and comes in handy when it comes time to clean and maintain your machine. Invest in a Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution and your carpets will soon be the envy of the neighborhood.

2. Hoover SmartWash Automatic Carpet Cleaner

Scrubbing into the second spot on the list of the top carpet cleaners is the Hoover SmartWash Automatic Carpet Cleaner. Hoover is one of the top vacuum cleaner brands in the world, so it stands to reason that its SmartWash Automatic Carpet Cleaner is one of the best home carpet cleaners you can buy. The SmartWash automatically dispenses the clean water solution to your carpets as you push it forward and automatically sucks up the solution back up as you pull it back, explains USA Today. Although that’s not a feature unique to Hoover’s SmartWash cleaner, it adds to the ease of cleaning your carpets.

Hoover SmartWash Automatic Carpet Cleaner
Hoover SmartWash Automatic Carpet Cleaner (hoover.com)

Simply push the button near the handle and the Hoover SmartWash precisely mixes your cleaning solution and sprays it approximately six inches in front of the cleaning head, notes House Beautiful. From there, move the powerful cleaning head over the soiled carpet a few times and the machine’s heavy brush effectively scrubs your carpet. The Hoover SmartWash also offers an auto-dry feature that transforms your carpet cleaner into a powerful vacuum, sucking up the solution and debris from your carpet to leave you with a clean room.

As Wired explains, the drying feature alone is a great reason to invest in one of these Hoover SmartWash cleaners. It takes the hard work out of cleaning your home’s carpets and gives you a clean, dry carpet in no time at all. But, Hoover didn’t stop there. This SmartWash carpet-cleaning machine also includes a separate antimicrobial pet cleaning attachment that connects to the hose and works great on those hard-to-reach areas where the bulky cleaning head won’t fit. Stairs, corners, nooks and crannies, nothing is off limits with a Hoover SmartWash.

3. Rug Doctor Pet Portable

Steaming into the third spot on the list of the top carpet cleaning machines is the Rug Doctor Pet Portable. This portable carpet cleaner is a convenient way to spot-clean your carpets and keep your home looking its best all around. As Better Homes and Gardens writes, the Rug Doctor Pet Portable is a great investment for anyone with older pets prone to accidents. This Rug Doctor portable cleaner works wonders on stained carpets, upholstery, car interiors, or any carpeted surface.

Rug Doctor Pet Portable
Rug Doctor Pet Portable (rugdoctor.com)

The Rug Doctor Pet Portable has one attachment, explains U.S. News and World Report. The handheld dual-action pet tool features rubber bristles designed to extract pet hair and other debris from your carpeted surfaces. And, the Rug Doctor Pet Portable can be easily carried from room to room as it features a retractable handle and wheels – similar to rolling luggage. You’ll love the ability to easily roll this cleaner around your house or out to your car, tackling every stain that catches your eye along the way. With a cord length of 28 feet, this portable carpet cleaner is capable of reaching all over your house so you won’t have to stop and find a new outlet to plug into constantly.

Good Housekeeping calls the Rug Doctor Pet Portable the “best carpet cleaning machine for homes with pets,” and for good reason. The strong suction of the hose gets deep down into the fibers of your carpet to wash away stains and dirt with ease.

The Rug Doctor Pet Portable will have you wishing someone would stain the carpet just to be able to bust this powerful machine out and show off your fast stain-removing skills. You’ll be like a carpet-cleaning superhero, but instead of a cape or a Batmobile, you’ll have your Rug Doctor Pet Portable.

4. Tineco Carpet One Smart Carpet Cleaner Machine

Cleaning up in the fourth spot on the list of the top carpet cleaning machines is the Tineco Carpet One Smart Carpet Cleaner Machine. As Good Housekeeping explains, even carpet cleaners are getting “smart” upgrades these days, and the Tineco Carpet One is easily one of the best smart carpet cleaners on the market. These carpet cleaners work with an app and automatically adjust suction and water flow based on how much dirt and debris it detects is being picked up.

HGTV calls the Tineco Carpet One the best carpet cleaner you can find. Although these machines are expensive, you’ll appreciate the extra features and cleaning capabilities of these cleaners. The easy-to-read LED screen and voice prompts that alert you when it’s time to change or empty the dirty water essentially walk you through the cleaning process. And, you’ll love the lightweight construction of the Tineco which makes it easy to maneuver around your house and carry the machine from room to room. These machines only weigh 16.5 lbs and feature a cord that’s 21 feet long, offering supreme maneuverability up and down stairs.

If you need something a little more powerful, then consider the Tineco Carpet One Pro model, adds Wired. The Pro model weighs more than the regular Carpet One, but if you have multiple rooms with heavily soiled carpets, then the Pro model is a great choice. The machine’s voice features will notify you when you’re toggling between Auto, Max, and Drying modes.

Drying mode offers a 167-degree blast of air designed to instantly dry your damp, clean carpets while the screen displays your carpet’s “dryness percentage.” If that’s not enough, the Pro is designed with a cleaning accessory for those hard-to-reach areas and upholstered furniture. Clean your house from top to bottom, the modern way, with a Tineco Carpet One and Carpet One Pro.

5. Bissell Big Green Professional Carpet Cleaner

Blasting into the fifth spot on the list of the best carpet cleaners is the Bissell Big Green Machine. Again, Bissell is one of the top names in home surface cleaning, and the Big Green Machine is a big reason for this company’s popularity. The Big Green Professional is Bissell’s version of a professional carpet cleaning machine, similar to the types you rent from the local hardware store, explains Business Insider. If you have a large carpeted space that needs deep cleaning, the Bissell Big Green Professional is the machine you need to get the job done.

Bissell Big Green Professional Carpet Cleaner
Bissell Big Green Professional Carpet Cleaner (bissell.com)

Sure, you can rent a machine from the hardware store, but that’s not a practical or efficient way to keep a large carpeted area clean, adds HGTV. The suction power on the Big Green Professional is unrivaled. You won’t have to worry about this machine being powerful enough to wipe away those embedded stains and caked-on dirt. At over 50 pounds when full of water, the Bissell Big Green Professional is easily one of the largest and heaviest machines on the market.

The reservoir holds 1.75 gallons of water so you won’t have to start and stop to refill constantly. Plus, the powerful head scrubs stains and dirt away while the strong suction takes it all up with ease. Good Housekeeping says the Bissell Big Green Professional is “the most user-friendly professional style home carpet cleaning machine” and the 25-foot-long cord makes it easy to go from room to room, though you probably won’t want to carry this machine up and down stairs. Fortunately, it also comes with a hose attachment to reach those tight spots and clean your upholstered furniture without investing in a separate machine. Clean your carpets like a true pro with the Bissell Big Green Professional.

6. Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner

Scouring into the sixth spot on the list of top carpet cleaning machines is the Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner. Hoover does it again, this upright carpet cleaner is lightweight, affordable, and compact, making it a triple threat in the carpet cleaning industry. At only 13 pounds, the Hoover PowerDash is an easy way to keep your carpets looking their best, explains U.S. News and World Report. This Hoover carpet cleaner can easily be carried up and down the stairs or from room to room on your way to purifying the carpeted surfaces in your home.

Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner
Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner (hoover.com)

Better Homes and Gardens loves the self-contained Hoover PowerDash carpet cleaner. It sprays solution, scrubs the dirt away, and sucks the dirty water back up all in one pass – no need to push back and forth in an effort to clean your carpets. The Hoover PowerDash is designed with Heatforce Technology which helps clean and dry your carpets faster than other models. And, the upright, lightweight design means you won’t have to kill your back bending over to spot clean the stains out of your carpet.

USA Today calls the Hoover PowerDash a great choice for occasional spot cleaning and tackling larger carpeted areas. Although the tank holds less than one gallon of water, this machine is capable of tackling tough, deep stains on your carpets. The narrow cleaning head makes it easier to clean tight spaces but can slow you down in larger rooms where you need to cover a big area. If you’re looking for a portable upright carpet cleaner at an affordable price, the Hoover PowerDash is a great choice.

7. Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner

Rounding out the list of the best carpet cleaners is another Bissell machine, this time it’s the Little Green Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner. We’ve already discussed the Big Green Professional, now meet its little brother, the Little Green Portable. These Bissell carpet and upholstery cleaning machines pack the power of Bissell’s larger machines in a small, portable cleaning machine that’s capable of picking up the toughest spills and stains, explains House Beautiful. It’s oddly satisfying to watch the dirty water reservoir fill up with black, dirty liquid as you pull the wand across your surfaces.

Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner
Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner (bissell.com)

As Wired notes, you may have seen these powerful little machines on TikTok cleaning videos. Regardless of its viral popularity, the Little Green Portable expands your cleaning powers beyond carpets to mattresses, area rugs, couches, car interiors, and just about any carpeted surface in your life. The Little Green Portable weighs less than 10 pounds and its cord reaches over 15 feet long, giving you supreme maneuvering power as you work your way through your home.

The Spruce calls this Bissell cleaner the “best portable carpet cleaner” you can find and loves its ability to spot clean fresh stains. As soon as a spill happens or a pet has an accident, you can rely on this machine to suck it right up without a problem, regardless of where it's located. The crevice tool gives you the ability to reach those tough nooks and crannies. If you have deep, embedded stains, the Little Green Portable can take care of those, too. You might have to give it a little extra elbow grease, but the tough bristles on the brush and the suction power of the hose will eventually lift those pesky, stuck-on stains right out of your carpet, couch, or car. The small but mighty Bissell Little Green Portable will leave you in awe of its cleaning power.

Benefits of keeping your carpets clean

Beyond looking great, regularly deep cleaning your carpet has numerous benefits including: 

  • Improved Indoor Air Quality: Carpets act as filters, trapping dust, dirt, allergens, and even pet dander. Regular cleaning removes these pollutants, leading to cleaner air you breathe, which is especially beneficial for allergy and asthma sufferers.
  • Enhanced Health: By removing dust mites, bacteria, and other allergens, clean carpets can help reduce allergy and asthma symptoms, as well as improve overall respiratory health.
  • Extended Carpet Life: Dirt and grime can wear down carpet fibers over time. Regular cleaning removes these abrasive particles, helping your carpets last longer and maintain their original beauty.
  • Pleasant Odors: Dirty carpets can trap unpleasant odors from spills, pet accidents, and general wear and tear. Regular cleaning eliminates these odors, leaving your home smelling fresh and inviting.
  • Improved Overall Cleanliness: Clean carpets contribute to a more hygienic living environment. By removing dirt and allergens, you create a healthier and more pleasant space for yourself and your family.

Sources used for our list:

Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. EdNews is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations.

About Saloni Ordia

Saloni is a freelance B2B SaaS writer who excels at creating in-depth product-focused content. When she is not writing, you can find her in the kitchen whipping up new recipes or curled up with a rom-com novel.

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