14 Best Lightweight Vacuum for Hardwood Floors That Money Can Buy

With the right care, hardwood floors can last a lifetime but they require frequent cleaning. Everything from crumbs to dust to pet hair show up on hard surface floors, including wood, tile, and laminate. A vacuum designed for hardwood floors is an essential cleaning tool for keeping your floors spotless and scratch-free.

Hardwood floors make any space look nicer, but they do require special care to keep them looking shiny and new. This means a good cleaning regimen including, importantly, a great vacuum for hardwood floors is needed in order to keep your floors looking clean and new.

But what makes a vacuum great for hardwood floors? For starters, you’ll want a vacuum with soft bristles. You can even get away with a vacuum with no roller at all!  Why? Well, rollers are great to clean plush carpeting but can cause unwanted scratches on hard flooring. It is important to make sure your hardwood vacuum has either multiple brush rolls for carpet vs. hardwood, or an option for turning the brush-roll off. A decent hardwood vacuum that does the job will also have strong suction so it can get into the crevices between the planks of wood, picking up all debris on your beautiful hardwood floors.

When shopping for the best lightweight vacuum for hardwood floors, these top options offer plenty of power, efficient operation, and features designed with bare floors in mind. Read on the find the best lightweight hardwood floor vacuum for all your cleaning needs.

How We Test Vacuums

Vacuums are rigorously tested to ensure they are good products. Usually, flour is used to simulate dust and dirt on the floor and a vacuum is tested to see how well it cleans up the flour. You can also crush crackers or cookies to simulate large particles to test that they fit under the vacuum head and that the suction is strong enough to pick up bigger particles. Simulated dirt and debris is placed on the floor and in corners, along the wall to fully test the ‘pick-up’ power of the vacuum.

Onboard tools are also tested to see where they are placed on the vacuum and how easy they are to reach and remove from their holders. The type and number of tools that come with the vacuum are considered as well. They are tested out to see how well they work in relation to the vacuum cleaner itself.

Vacuums with bags will have more recurring cost than bagless vacuums as you have to replace the bags. How easy it is to remove and clean the canister for bagless vacuums is also tested. For vacuums with bags, how easy it is to remove the bag and replace it is also tested for reliability and ease of use.

Lightweight Vacuum for Hardwood Floors: All Are Available on Amazon

Before we dive into the list of cleaners there are a few things to consider. Firstly the agitation brush, sometimes called a beater brush. For a standard vacuum the aim is to agitate the carpet fibers and drag out the dirt. You don’t want that level of power running over your hardwood floors. Added to that your treatments and coating can also be damaged and you want to look for something that can disable the brush, or has a softer brush for hardwood floors.

Shark NV356E S2 Navigator Lift-Away Professional Upright Vacuum with Pet Power Brush and Crevice Tool, White/Silver

The Shark NV356E S2 provides dependable power for the whole home. This handy vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors will deep-clean carpets while tackling hard floors. It will also take on above-floor messes with a detachable Lift-Away pod. This upright vacuum cleaner delivers powerful cleaning on floors and everywhere else. You can tackle embedded dirt and debris on thick carpets, or you can easily switch to hard floor mode for incredible multi-surface cleaning. This truly a durable machine for your home and cleaning needs.

The completely HEPA sealed head ensures no dust or allergens escape as you clean. Equipped with Advanced Swivel Steering, the Navigator provides excellent control when manoeuvring around furniture and other obstacles.

Bissell Cleanview Rewind Hand Vac Bundle

Did you know that every Bissell purchase helps save pets? Bissell proudly supports the Bissell Pet Foundation and its mission to help save homeless pets . This top-rated hardwood floor cleaner comes with a triple action brush roll that loosens, lifts and removes embedded dirt and pet hair from multiple surfaces. The scatter-free technology reduces scatter on hard floors  while the automatic cord rewind wraps the 27’ power cord for you so you never have to wrap the cord again. The Cleanview provides a powerful, clean all the way to the edge of every room in your home. It is large capacity and has an easy empty dirt tank that empties with the press of a button. This machine comes with specialized pet tools including the Pet TurboEraser Tool, Pet Hair Corner Tool, Dusting Brush, Crevice Tool, and Extension Wand which are kept close by while cleaning with on-board storage

Bissell Featherweight Stick Lightweight Bagless Vacuum With Crevice Tool, 2033, One Size Fits All

The BISSELL Featherweight Stick Lightweight Bagless Vacuum is powerful, convenient, and easy to use. The powerful suction makes it great for quick pick ups with multipurpose versatility . This machine is really three machines in one: A stick vacuum, handle vacuum, and stair vacuum that comes with a crevice tool for furniture and a floor nozzle for stairs . With the BISSELL Featherweight, you can clean hard floors and surface dirt on carpets and area rugs as well as counter tops, sealed hard floors, low pile carpet. Dirt cup capacity: 0.67 liter.

BISSELL, 2999 MultiClean Allergen Pet Upright Vacuum with HEPA Seal System

This neat machine provides powerful cleaning performance and it effectively removes pet hair and other debris across multiple surfaces with powerful suction and the Tangle-Free Brush Roll. It comes with the HEPA sealed Allergen System that traps 99.97% of dust and allergens. The Multi-Clean Allergen Pet Upright Vacuum comes with handy  swivel steering & lightweight design. It’s powerful cleaning performance without the heavy lifting! This machine also has one touch easy empty. It’s designed so pet hair spools around the tank, so it stays out of filters and off of your hands when you empty the dirt tank.

Kenmore Floor Care Elite Upright Bagged Vacuum

The Kenmore Floor Care Elite is a bagged upright vacuum that is great at removing pet hair, dust and more. It’s a multi-floor, multi-surface designed vacuum for use in your home, den, or kitchen with a wide sweeper path. The air driven turbine spins the roller brush to high RPM, easily removing dander, stubborn pet hair, and other debris off furniture, stairs, car and van seats or out of your vehicle. An enhanced HEPA filter system traps 99. 97% of debris, including dander and dust, inside the vacuum thereby reducing allergy-induced pollutants in the room. A 3D inducer motor combines the power of 3 motors that gives you 20% more air power than a conventional vacuum while never loosing suction. The Beltless Agitator reduces maintenance and repairs while the flexible hose and lightweight aluminum wand lengthen to reach 10′. Dusting brush, crevice tool and second bare floor tool are included for convenient cleaning transitions.

Dirt Devil Endura Reach Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner for Carpet and Hard Floor, Lightweight, Corded

There will be no loss of suction with this great cleaning machine. The Endura filter is equipped for powerful upright vacuum cleaner performance. It’s also easily accessible  and easily rinseable for quick maintenance when you need it. Make fewer, quicker, and easier trips to the trash with the easy empty 1.5 litre dirt cup, all with the touch of a button. This Dirt Devil machine is light with a bite! It is a compact, upright vacuum that packs some serious multi floor cleaning power in its conveniently lightweight design

Power through dirt and pet hair with a wave of the extension wand for ten feet of extra reach – which stores on the vacuum when you’re done. The Endura Reach comes with a 2-in-1 dusting brush and crevice tool that stores on-board for messes at a minute’s notice.

BISSELL, 2554A CrossWave Cordless Max All in One Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop for Hard Floors and Area Rugs

With this neat machine, you can vacuum and wash your floors at the same time with cordless freedom. Imagine up to 30 minutes of cordless cleaning power with a 36V lithium-ion battery. You also get improved edge cleaning to easily pick-up pet hair that gathers along baseboards and in corners of your home. Multi-surface cleaning means it’s safe for use on tile, sealed wood floors, rugs, laminate, linoleum, rubber floor mats, pressed wood floors, and more. It even refreshes area rugs. The self-cleaning cycle helps maintain the machine’s cleaning performance and comes with a cleaning path width of 10.5 inches. The two-tank technology keeps clean water and formula separate from dirty water and dry debris.

Oreck HEPA Upright Bagged Vacuum Cleaner, Lightweight, 30 ft Power Cord

Fingertip control settings easily allow you to adjust the brush roll speed, making it perfect for all flooring types including carpet, hardwood and tile. Oreck’s best HEPA filtration bags trap 99. 97% of unseen particles like pet dander, dust and mould spores while SaniSeal automatically helps to lock in dirt during disposal. Weighing less than 10 pounds, the Oreck HEPA vacuum cleaner is half the weight of most vacuums in its class with four times the capacity. The low-profile, sleek design includes 5 LED headlights and a 30-foot-long power cord, providing full visibility and reach in hard-to-access places.

Shark Rocket Corded Bagless Stick Vacuum for Carpet and Hard Floor Cleaning with Swivel Steering

The Shark Rocket Corded Bagless Stick Vacuum converts into a handheld vacuum for versatile floor-to-ceiling cleaning. The extra tools allow you to reach tight spaces, tackle pet hair and much more for whole-home cleaning. The fingertip controls allow you to easily switch from hard floor to carpet cleaning and you can hang the handheld vacuum from the hook on the bottom of the wand for convenient storage. The Rocket comes with handy swivel steering for excellent control and to manoeuvrability around furniture. The cleaning path width is 8.5 inches and the Rocket includes a crevice tool, pet multi-tool, and a precision duster. The helpful hand vac weighs 3.01 pounds while the entire vacuum  weighs 8.2 pounds.

Black & Decker Stick Vacuum Cleaner Powerful Suction 3-in-1 Small Handheld Vac with Filter for Hard Floor Lightweight Upright Home Pet Hair

This handy 2.75 lbs lightweight vacuum is easy to manoeuvre and carry. This fun combination vacuum is perfect for quick everyday cleaning while the powerful suction ensures continuous and stable high power to get the job done. No need to charge, it is always ready to go as it is a corded vacuum. It is a handheld vacuum cleaner or easily convert it to a stick vacuum cleaner by adding the pole handle and floor nozzle. Great for tackling stairs, car cleaning and hard to reach places. Crevice tool also included. The Black & Decker Stick Vacuum Cleaner stands upright on its own and the cord wraps conveniently around hooks on the back to keep everything organized. This bagless vacuum keeps your maintenance cost as low as possible. Simply clean the dust cup and wash the filter regularly.

iRobot Roomba i7+  Automatic Dirt Disposal – Dual Multi Surface Rubber Brushes – Learns, Maps, and Adapts – Clean by Object – Personalized Suggestions

No list of vacuum cleaners would be complete without a robot vacuum cleaner. Set and let them do their job for up to 60 days. Each time they get back to the station they empty themselves with 4 layers of anti allergen technology.

There isn’t a way to make the robot be more gentle on your hardwood floors, but the advantage is that you will get all the small particles removed before they have a chance to get walked on. Even better you can send this one to a mess that has just happened, via Alexa or Google Assistant.  Strangely enough this only gets 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon, possibly the higher price point meaning that people expect more.

Hoover UH73510

Voted best upright Vacuum for Hardwood floors by Goodhouse Keeping, this is something special. At 18lbs it is a little heavier than all the others, but this boasts Floorsense technology, micro-sensors detect changing floor types and automatically adjusts brush roll speed for the best results on any floor type, so you can go from one type of flooring to the other without worrying. Add to that Powered Reach Mode gives you greater access and further cleaning reach without having to move furniture, With a HEPA filter and a very powerful motor this gives you a lot of bang for your buck. This is the best lightweight Hoover vacuum for cleaning your Hardwood floor.

Swiffer Sweep and Vac

Sometimes you need super lightweight and super affordable. Not this is a vacuum and Swiffer Sweeper in one, which does mean on the dry sweep mode you are dragging particles across your hard wood floors, so be careful and use the vacuum mode first. Fully rechargeable, and weighing less that 3lbs it certainly is the lightest of the vacuums we looked at.

My concerns aside it scored 4.5 of out 5 stars on Amazon, so most people thought it was well worth the very low price tag.

Dyson V11 Torque Drive, Cord-Free Vacuum.

I used to be a Dyson Animal diehard fan, but 2 models that were big on promise and low on fulfilment sent me running to competitors. But this the highest-rated machine we’ve reviewed here, an impressive 4.7 out of 5 stars, may well tempt me back.

As ever this is a well-balanced lightweight machine, that also boasts intelligent adaptation to different floors, and whilst the claim to pick up 99.97% of microscopic dust is difficult to confirm or deny at home, it still leaves your floors looking clean and dust-free. At a touch under 7 lbs the Dyson Torque Drive is a real lightweight vacuum.

What to Consider When Choosing the Right Hardwood Floor Vacuum

Vacuum style

It doesn’t matter what style of vacuum you prefer as there’s probably a version specially designed for hardwood floors. The usual options include canister vacuums, which are easy to empty, cordless vacuums, which are incredibly portable, robot vacuums, which require little effort on your part, and even more. There are benefits and disadvantages to every vacuum, so it’s a matter of which features work best with your lifestyle.

Attachments

You may want to prioritize certain attachments depending on how you plan to use your vacuum. There are many popular options including dusting, upholstery, crevice, and pet attachments. All these attachments can come in handy around your house, depending on your cleaning needs.

Weight

A key factor that many people don’t think about when purchasing a new vacuum is the weight of the machine. This is a key factor that can impact whether you ultimately like your new vacuum or not. A vacuum that’s too heavy is just a burden to push around your home, while one that’s too light may get knocked over easily and therefore damaged.

Features to Look for When Choosing the Right Hardwood Floor Vacuum

You may want a vacuum with unique features or something simpler. Either way, it pays to do your research and read product reviews to determine which hardwood floor cleaner is best for your needs. Consider the cleaning head on the vacuum and attachments that come with it. Do they meet all your cleaning needs? Will you be happy with the options or do you need something more? Look for a vacuum that appeals to you, that you like and would want to use. Don’t forget to consider the weight of the machine and how it will look in your home. Is the vacuum cordless or corded? Which one better fits your needs? What is the battery life on a cordless vacuum? Does the vacuum have bags or is it a cannister? How easy is it to clean or remove and replace the bag without creating a giant mess? These are all questions you need to consider before deciding which is the best hardwood floor cleaner for your home and lifestyle.

 

FAQ

Are vacuums safe for hardwood floors?

Hardwood floors are hard to clean and you want to make sure you don’t leave a trail of scratches on your lovely hardwood floor. Rest assured—you can clean your hardwood floors with a vacuum without running the risk of damaging them. All you need to do is  make sure your vacuum has a few key features that ensure gentle and effective cleaning. You will want to look for adjustable height and suction settings, rubberized or felted wheels, and, depending on the vacuum, softer cleaning heads.

When is it better to vacuum, rather than sweep, hardwood floors?

While sweeping is an excellent way to clean up large debris, particularly dirty hardwood or floors that may be covered in small debris are better to be vacuumed to get clean. Thanks to their suction power, vacuums can pick up fine dirt and dust particles that brooms might not be able to. If you want a thoroughly cleaned floor then you will want to opt for a vacuum over sweeping.

Will a robotic vacuum clean hardwood floors?

Using a robotic vacuum is one of the least labor-intensive ways to keep your home clean. Look for a robot vacuum that gives you the ability to adjust its height and suction settings. Some vacuums do this automatically while other may require you to change the settings remotely or even via an app. You can count on hardwood floor vacuums to clean hardwood and tile as effectively as it cleans carpeted areas.

Conclusion:

Whether you’re getting into the spirit of spring cleaning or just trying to keep pesky allergies and pet hair at bay, the best vacuum for hardwood floors can make the entire process much easier. If you’re sick of using a clunky traditional vacuum, then it might be time for you to cut the cord and upgrade to a more modern, cordless version. These high-tech appliances are lighter and easier to manoeuvrer compared to their corded counterparts. They tend to look sleeker and nicer too.

While most cordless vacuums are designed to work on all surfaces, they are especially effective when it comes to cleaning hardwood floors. These neat gadgets will suck up the same amount of dirt and debris as traditional vacuums, but their lightweight and compact designs prevent excess wear and tear from occurring on your flooring and on you!

Cordless vacuums, like many appliances, can be expensive but worth the cost. You will need to determine your needs and wants and see which vacuum best fits those needs before you make your purchase. Some vacuum options even have extended battery life to give you up to 100 minutes of runtime. Some others are designed to wash floors and suck up unwanted debris simultaneously. Regardless, there are plenty of options available for you to find the best hardwood floor cleaning machine to suit all your cleaning needs.