11 best carpet cleaners to remove stubborn stains and refresh your home

The pet design model is a new update on the bestselling Vax platinum smartwash, which is an upright and a spot cleaner in one. It’s a huge beast that’s capable of covering multiple carpets in one session, but it also comes with tools so you can use it as a spot cleaner and give extra treatment to stubborn stains.

It’s got a sprayer handle, designed to target pet messes with pet stain- and odour-remover, helping animal-lovers take back control of the smell of their house. We also used this on a mess made by a potty-training toddler and were impressed by how all traces of the accident were erased. The odour-remover was a welcome relief, too.

Simple to set up, we liked that it had three tanks, which immediately made it stand out from all the others we tested. One’s for clean water, one’s for dirty water and the other is for concentrated detergent. It comes with a bottle of platinum antibacterial solution, which you can just pour into the tank without the need to mix. We found this helped us avoid wasting solution, as we could just pour any unused detergent from the tank back into the bottle when we’d finished.

Another standout feature is Vax’s unique motion sense technology. Simply switch on and the carpet washer detects when you move forwards to wash, and dries when you pull back. In the forwards mode it automatically releases cleaning solution, which is why there’s no need for a trigger, and activates vacuum mode when you are in reverse. We liked that it made cleaning carpets as simple as walking forwards and backwards without the need to bend down, scrub or even push that hard.

With a 2.5m hose and a spun scrub attachment, we also tried this on an aged sofa, and it was shocking to see how much dirt it pulled out.

Admittedly, this steam mop is primarily designed for hard floors, but it has a carpet glider attachment for soft surfaces and rugs.

At just 2.3kg, this is the lightest model we tested and it’s extremely easy to use to nip around a room. We also liked the triangular mop head, which is great for reaching edges and corners. Heating up in just 15 seconds, you can use it whenever you have a bit of spare time, rather than having to timetable a carpet clean into your schedule.

Through the power of steam alone, this mop is touted at removing 99.9 per cent of bacteria from surfaces. We found that it didn’t really make a mark on stains, but it did improve the look and feel of the carpet.

As there’s just one water tank, it’s not the machine for deep cleaning, and it won’t suck anything out from the bottom layers. But we’d use it as an everyday way to maintain carpets in between deep cleans. It’s a worthwhile investment given that it can be used for the kitchen, bathroom and other hardwood floors, too.

If you have pets or children that are prone to walking muddy pawprints or footprints around your carpets, you’ll find this portable carpet cleaner is excellent at tackling spot stains. Once we’d identified areas we wanted to treat, restoring them to their former glory was as simple as powering on and going over the spot with the machine’s motorised brush.

This brush trumps others that we tested, as it has rubberised bristles to grab pet hair while it’s removing stains. We were surprised at how much hair had been lurking in our carpet that wasn’t visible to the naked eye but got collected by these bristles.

We also liked that this was one of the easiest and most effective models to use on stairs. Admittedly, it took slightly longer than some of the full-size upright models we tested, but it required less physical effort. We stood it at the bottom of the stairs, and the 1.5m stretch hose could reach right the way up to the top of the flight, so we could focus on the cleaning without worrying about how to balance it.

Doubling as a dry vacuum, this is a great multi-purpose machine. One of it’s most appealing factors is that it saves on storage space, as you won’t need to buy a separate vacuum cleaner and carpet cleaner. But there are other reasons to buy it aside from it’s multi-tasking capabilities. For example, it has enough power to spray a mix of tap water and Kärcher RM 519 carpet cleaner deep into textile surfaces under pressure, which is excellent at dissolving dirt. Kärcher is well known for its outdoor pressure washers, and this acts as a pressure washer for carpets, ejecting cleaning solution into a pile way better than you could do manually.

We found it’s suction power to be equally good. This was evident when used in vacuuming mode as well as when used to dry wet carpet. However, the movement needed to push the hose over the carpets did drain the arms and the shoulders slightly.

This Bissell model really impressed us out of the box. We could tell the brush was something special, just by looking at it. It has 12 rows of individual Dual Dirtlifter PowerBrushes that each work on stains, constantly rotating to agitate and then pulverise dirt deep within the carpet fibres.

Pushing it over the floor was a real pleasure. Although it’s a heavy beast at almost 8kg, it moves smoothly and you can see the brushes working hard as you push. Extra efficiency comes from the clean water tank, which is kept at a consistently warm temperature to melt stains and make them more responsive to the brushes and the cleaning solution.

You can choose from three different cleaning modes: max clean, deep clean and express clean. The max and deep modes draw extraordinary amounts of dirt from carpets but the downside is they leave them sodden and you can’t use them for hours after use. Express mode is more than enough for most households, especially if you use it to maintain the cleanliness every three months. Drying time for express mode is a more-reasonable 30 minutes.

The appliance itself is easy to collapse down to reach under sofas and under beds. It also works a dream on stairs, thanks to a handy attachment that’s ideal for crevices too. We like that it comes with a six-year guarantee, effectively meaning the price tag works out at just over £40 a year – much better value for money than hiring professional carpet cleaners or renting a machine.

You may be familiar with the smiley Henry vacuum cleaner that has been a household favourite since 1985. Now, meet his equally happy-looking younger brother George, who is capable of vacuuming and carpet cleaning. In fact, there’s not much this friendly looking green machine can’t do. If you have a blocked sink, George can suck up what’s causing the problem through the plughole. If you have a leak, George’s 9l wet capacity can hold the water and bail you out until a plumber arrives. To fully test this, we poured a litre of water over the kitchen floor and George swallowed it all back up.

During testing on carpets, we found this machine to be very powerful. It sprays on a fine mist of cleaning solution that’s more than enough to remove all the stains we had left for it. We really liked that it effectively lifted dirt out of the carpet without leaving the carpet soaking. Another cool feature is that we could switch to hard floor cleaning with ease, thanks to George’s combi floor tool.

The only thing we didn’t like is that it does take a bit of upper arm strength to repeatedly push the nozzle across the surface of the carpet, especially if it’s a thick one. However, this may be a good thing in the long run, when both your carpets and your biceps look better as a result.

For those with fewer carpets, or anyone who just doesn’t want to lug a full-size machine out for every minor spill, this Bissell model is the perfect solution. It has a powerful rotating DirtLifter PowerBrush to help loosen, lift and remove tough pet stains. We found this brush to be excellent at loosening dried-on stains, whether that was some old food in the kids’ bedroom or an annoying speck of mud on the stairs.

After using this, we did feel that rooms smelled better but that might be because we used it with the Bissell pet stain and odour cleaning formula. This neutralises stale odours and leaves behind a fresh, herbal scent. Unlike other carpet cleaners we tested, this model uses no water, only cleaning solution, which could explain why we could smell it more powerfully. We also liked that the solution can be stored in the tank while not in use, making this cordless cleaner ready and waiting for the next time you need it. After all, if you spill a glass of wine, you don’t want to measure out cleaning and water solution and cause a delay in treating the stain.

Once we saw the compact size of this machine, we were sceptical about how much of an impact it could make on our deep carpets, but we were pleasantly surprised. This Tower spot cleaner is small but mighty – and the size makes it super simple to store. This easily fits in a kitchen cupboard, ready in case of food or drink spills, pet or child accidents or muddy trainers.

While we did have to bend down to use it, we found the powerful aquajets reached deep down into the layers of a carpet better than we could have achieved with elbow grease alone. We noted that the bristles on the brush are super firm, which helped with agitating all types of stains – even ones caused by melted candle wax.

Out of all the machines we tested, this was one of our favourites for use on the stairs, as it weighs just 4kg, so you can carry it and clean at the same time. It has 400W of suction power, which helps dry surfaces fast. We also tested out the suction power in the car, going to war on crumbs and general dirt, before finishing with an all-over wash. Results were almost as good as going to a car valet, although it did take a couple of hours.

It’s not a carpet cleaner you’d use for deep cleaning your entire house, but it’s brilliant if you are prone to accidents or you just want to treat small areas at a time.

This combines the lightweight nature of a spot cleaner with the easy manoeuvrability of an upright. As it weighs just 5kg, it’s something you could easily get out for small spillages as well as use it for deeper cleans.

It’s 800W power is decent and you can see dirty water as evidence that it’s pulling dirt and allergens from a carpet. However, we did need to go over dried-on stains a couple of times before it made a visible difference. We also needed to empty the tank after every carpet and fill the clean one up again. We’d put up with both of these inconveniences to save money, however, and it is important to note that this is at least £100 cheaper than other full-size cleaners we tested. It’s also super easy to push, steer and even change direction, if you need to avoid pieces of furniture.

If you want to keep your carpets looking their best without doing a full deep-clean every week, this small Vax model offers a powerful way to get rid of those little stains that emerge from time to time. Whether it’s a spilled drink or mud from a child’s shoes or a pet’s paws, this carpet cleaner removed it all. We tested it on a multitude of everyday accidents and it restored our carpet to new each time, erasing the stain so much that we couldn’t make out where it had been.

We were impressed by how well it worked in the car, too, especially given that we’re not always the most frequent of car cleaners. Drink stains and discoloration caused by melted chocolate were wiped away, thanks to a combination of the Vax spotwash antibacterial solution and the attachment tool, which enables you to really put some elbow grease into dislodging the dirt. We also used the boost mode on stubborn stains, as this offers 25 per cent more suction power than regular mode. The battery lasts for up to 25 minutes but we were always finished in around 15 minutes – even in the car.

With this cordless cleaner, Vax has come up with a way to speed up carpet maintenance, and we approve.

Shark says this will deep clean carpets eight times more effectively than vacuum cleaning alone and while we couldn’t scientifically verify this, we could definitely see a massive difference in the colour and texture of carpets.

Weighing 8.3kg, it’s not the lightest to push but once we gained momentum we found it easy to use. What makes it heavy is the three tanks rather than the standard two on most appliances. There’s a clean water tank, a dirty water tank and a stain striker solution tank. The latter is the extra special feature of this CarpetXpert, essentially acting as a spot cleaner for ground-in stains. During testing, dried candle wax was pulled up almost effortlessly, as was red and pink felt tip pen ink.

Another highlight is that this has powerful suction, meaning our carpets dried very quickly. If you only have a limited time available to clean while the rest of the house is out, you can whip this around and the carpets will be good to use as normal by the time everyone else returns.

Just note that it measures 35cm x 30.5cm around the base and it’s more than 1m tall, so you’ll need to find a large space to store it.