Best HEPA vacuums for allergies 2024 – tested by our home tech pros for tight filtration that really combat allergens at home

One of the most effective ways to rid your home of allergens is to buy a vacuum with a HEPA filter. These ultra-tight filters are able to capture almost all of the particles that trigger our symptoms.

I'm an asthma and allergy sufferer myself, and since investing in a HEPA vacuum my symptoms and general well-being have massively improved. By properly trapping these particles within the vacuum, they don't recirculate back into the home, becoming airborne and even easier to breathe in.

As H&G's home tech editor, my team of product testers and I have reviewed 53 of the best vacuum cleaners in the market. Most of them have HEPA filters, but for those with allergies, I've picked out the best three to say goodbye to stuffy noses and teary eyes.

The best HEPA vacuums for allergies in 2024

A HEPA filter is classed as being able to capture 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns. Dyson's HEPA H13 filters exceed these standards, capturing 99.99% of microscopic particles and allergens as small as 0.3 microns. That means virtually no allergen will be able to pass through.

These are the top three HEPA vacuums at a glance. Keep scrolling for the complete guide or click the navigation links to take you to each product.

I also recommend learning about allergens and the importance of HEPA filters in the FAQ section below.

Best cordless HEPA vacuum for allergies

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The best Dyson vacuums use whole-machine HEPA filtration so that the air released back in the room is as free from allergens as possible. Vacuum cleaners usually have pre-motor and post-motor filters, with the post-motor filter typically being the HEPA one. More on this in my vacuum jargon buster.

Instead, Dyson's HEPA filtration covers the entire appliance for much more effective particle capture.

Not only does the Dyson V12 Detect Slim have an excellent filtration system, it's also a highly powerful vacuum cleaner with intelligent features that transform how easy it is to clean the house. It's the only vacuum I continue to use in my own home after the 12 vacuums I've tested at length for H&G.

Its FluffyOptic floorhead has a soft brushroll to pull super-fine particles from hard floors, as well as a green laser that genuinely reveals dust that the naked eye can't see. The other Motorbar floorhead has anti-tangle veins that, in the six months I've been using it, have never once been wrapped with hair.

It's lightweight and easy to use, and it uses a piezo sensor to count each individual particle that enters the machine. This is a bit of a luxury, giving you useful insight into what parts of your home are messier, but it also allows the vacuum to automatically adjust to the right suction power when it detects a particularly dusty area of the floor.

The Dyson V12 Detect Slim is the smallest and most affordable part of Dyson's flagship range, that includes the Dyson V15 Detect and the Dyson Gen5detect. If you want a larger dustbin and more cleaning power, it's definitely worth considering paying the bit extra for one of these models as they're the best two vacuum cleaners we've ever tested. The V12 Detect Slim has 150 air watts of suction power, the V15 Detect has 230 and the Gen5detect has 262 (more on what that means below).

Read more in my full Dyson V12 Detect Slim review.

Best upright HEPA vacuum for allergies

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Similar to Dyson's vacuums, the best Shark vacuums also use whole-machine filtration to better prevent allergens from being re-released back into your home. But unlike Dyson, only the post-motor filter is a HEPA in Shark vacuums, and the whole-machine filtration is what Shark calls an 'Anti-Allergen Complete Seal' which works in a similar way, but is slightly less effective.

Dyson's HEPA filtration captures 99.99% of particles as small as 0.3 microns while Shark's traps 99.9% of all dust and allergens. It's only a marginal difference, and either way anybody with allergies or asthma will be feeling the positive effects from these tightly-filtered vacuum cleaners.

The Shark POWERDETECT is the best upright vacuum in Shark's range. It boasts their latest cleaning technologies, like floor detection to automatically adjust the power when moving across floor types, dusty areas, and floor edges and corners. It even detects which direction you're vacuuming to optimize the airflow as you clean.

A great feature of the Shark POWERDETECT is its odor-neutralization. If, like me, you suffer from allergies from dust and pets, you'll love that the POWERDETECT can banish those familiar smells after you clean, leaving a fresher scent across your home.

It's also one of the most powerful vacuums we've tested at H&G, cementing itself in our lists of the best vacuums for pet hair and the best vacuums for carpet with its effortless cleaning performance across all floor types. 'It took just a single pass with each test for the vacuum to suck up whatever was on the floor,' wrote our expert tester James.

Read more at our full Shark POWERDETECT review.

Best HEPA vacuum with a HEPA cleaning base

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An easy way to avoid exposure with allergens is to limit how often we're emptying our vacuums. Self-cleaning stations have become popular for this exact reason: they store weeks of dust in a tight unit, leaving you to do the emptying yourself once every two months or so.

The Tineco Pure One Station has a three-liter cleaning station (around 101.4 fl oz), meaning you can store dust for up to 60 days until you or your household have to come into contact with it. The vacuum itself uses HEPA H13 filtration, the same as Dyson, and the cleaning station uses five-stage HEPA filtration to capture 99.99% of dust particles down to 0.3 microns in size. That's more than what most HEPA filters can capture.

You'll be glad to know the Tineco Pure One vacuum cleaner is great at picking up hair. During testing, I actually watched as it pulled in strands of hair that were an inch or two away from the nozzle. It also performed pretty well with small and large debris, but not quite as well as the Dyson and Shark in this guide when it came to cleaning between wood panels or the floor's edges. It also struggled slightly with large debris on carpets such as red lentils and large round cereal pieces.

While the vacuum's suction isn't as powerful as the big brands, it does boast smart features like responsive suction power and a detailed control panel with insights into your cleaning and vacuum health. But the real star of the show is the cleaning station. It looks sleek and has tinted glass to conceal the dust contents inside, and it's one of the tightest-filtered cleaning stations we've seen yet. It also cleans the vacuum cleaner as well as emptying it, pulling out dust from the brushrolls and internal parts for you.

If you're looking for better cleaning performance however, I'd recommend the Shark Cordless PowerDetect. It cleans more effectively than the Tineco Pure One but its cleaning station doesn't have HEPA filtration. Or, the Samsung Bespoke Jet is perfect for allergies, but uses a bagged system that incurs running costs (on top of the already expensive initial vacuum cost).

Read more in my full Tineco Pure One Station review.

How to choose a HEPA vacuum for allergies

Choosing the right HEPA vacuum is largely the same as knowing how to choose a vacuum cleaner in general. But there are a few key considerations when it comes to dealing with allergies at home and understanding which is the right type of filter.

HEPA is an official certification, only granted once a filter meets strict standards of being able to trap at least 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns. So if a vacuum cleaner is listed as a HEPA vacuum – you can trust that it can deal with allergens.

But make sure to look out for vacuums that list HEPA-style or HEPA-like filters. The language will be subtle, but there'll be something to show that the filter isn't actually a HEPA filter, and won't be able to meet your cleaning needs when dealing with microscopic allergens.

Vacuums use multiple filters, one before the motor and one after the motor. The best vacuums, like the Dyson V12 Detect Slim in this guide, have whole-machine filtration to ensure that these particles are as contained within the appliance as possible.

Find out more about filters and all other key vacuuming terms in my vacuum jargon buster.

How we test HEPA vacuums for allergies

At Homes & Gardens we like to get hands-on experience with all the products that make it feature in our buying guides. You can learn more in in our behind-the-scenes look at how we test vacuums, and there's an overview of our principles in our guide to how we test products.

Each new vacuum we get the opportunity to review is tried and tested in our own homes, undergoing rigorous testing on a range of flooring and household challenges. We also test vacuums in a dedicated test studio, standardizing our examination across different messes and floor types.

When testing for tight filtration and anti-allergenic features, we look beyond the filter at how likely dust can come out, how messy it is to empty the dustbin, and whether dust falls out of the nozzle after each use.

We test the vacuum cleaners for a number of weeks (sometimes months) so we get a feel for the longevity and durability of each model. In some instances, we are also fortunate enough to keep the vacuum cleaners after writing up the review so we can continue to learn about them and share our findings with you with updates to our original articles.

Meet the team

Dan Fauzi

I am H&G's home tech editor, covering vacuums and floorcare on a near-daily basis. I've tested 12 vacuums in my time at H&G, including the Dyson V12 Detect Slim and Tineco Pure One Station in this guide. I suffer with asthma and allergies and a HEPA vacuum is a must in my home.

James Holland

James has been testing products since 2021, and in that time has spent more than 100 hours testing 20+ vacuum cleaners. He tested the Shark POWERDETECT in this guide.

FAQs

Does a HEPA vacuum help with allergies?

Becoming familiar with exactly what common allergens exist in our homes will help to understand why vacuums need HEPA filters.

The most common allergens in our homes are: dust, dander (skin cells from humans and pets), dust mites and pollen. 'Dust' in general is actually a mixture of all of these allergens and more, gathering all over our homes at all times and triggering allergic symptoms in those who suffer from them.

But when we talk about dust allergies, what we're really referring to is allergies to dust mites, or more specifically the fecal matter left behind by dust mites. Dust mites feed off our dead skin cells, leaving behind waste that triggers allergies.

Dust mites are microscopic bugs that feed off our skin cells and thrive in warm, dark conditions. Their existence in our homes is one of the main reasons why you should vacuum often, and why you should be regularly vacuuming your mattress.

Just like dust mites, all of these allergenic substances are microscopic, stressing the importance of a vacuum cleaner with tight filtration. As HEPA filters can capture at least 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns, they can trap almost all of the common allergens in our homes.

As strong flows of air pass through a vacuum cleaner and out the exhaust, not having a HEPA filter means that these allergens will be re-released into your space. Not only that, but they'll become airborne, and will only be able to be removed from the room using one of the best air purifiers, and not your vacuum cleaner.

How long does a HEPA filter last in a vacuum?

HEPA filters can last anywhere between one to three years, but many of the best vacuum cleaners for allergies have washable HEPA filters that can ensure continued use even past that. I'd recommend choosing a vacuum with washable filters over replaceable ones to keep costs low.

Next, consider one of the best Dyson alternatives or the best carpet cleaners for pets for deeper cleaning.