It's no wonder vacuum-mop combos are becoming so popular. They tackle two of the most arduous floor cleaning tasks with one easy-to-use appliance, reducing the time and effort required to separately vacuum and mop.
As more homes than ever boast hard floors, these combo cleaners are rightly creeping onto wish lists and why not? Now, one powerful appliance can vacuum solids, clean up liquid spills, mop the floors and even remove dried-on stains.
I'm Homes & Gardens' home tech editor, and my team of product testers and I have so far put 65 of the best vacuums through their paces in our extensive review process, and these the three best vacuum-mops you can buy right now.
The best vacuum-mop combo
The full package. The Dreame H14 Pro handled all messes swiftly and thoroughly, and is so easy to use that it demands hardly any effort at all. It can lay completely flat, self-clean, self-dry, and has a sleek control screen.
Runner-up best vacuum-mop combo
A powerful floor cleaner with only minor drawbacks, but a steep price that might put some off. It didn't struggle when cleaning any messes, and even cleaned up after a leaking Dyson model, but it doesn't clean quite as efficiently as the Dreame. It does, however, leave the floors much drier afterwards.
The best value vacuum-mop
The Stretch S6 is one of the more flexible vacuum-mops we've tested, and while it may not clean as quickly as the others in this guide, it costs a little less, making it best for value.
The best vacuum-mop combos in 2025
The best vacuum-mop combo
I've spent over 150 hours testing vacuum cleaners, and the Dreame H14 Pro is the best vacuum-mop combo I've ever used. It's hard to ask for more from this kind of cleaner as it never struggled to clean the various messes I threw at it. It's easy to use, is packed full of smart features, and looks sleek and modern in the home.
Milk and cereal is one of the trickier tests for a vacuum-mop, but the Dreame H14 Pro outperformed all others and deep cleaned the floor in just two passes. Other vacuum-mop combos I tested took at least 3-5 passes, and some even struggled to get it all without me having to place the vacuum head on each individual piece of cereal.
This excellence was the case for every cleaning test I put the Dreame H14 Pro through. When cleaning ketchup, mustard and pasta sauce, the vacuum cleared it all in a complete forward-and-backward pass. When tackling a broken egg, it managed it quickly and without any mess leaking out. Other vacuums can get caught out by the egg's thick, greasy consistency, which can occasionally cause a clog and be the reason a vacuum loses suction power.
More generally, the H14 Pro is a breeze to use. You can understand what all the features do in a matter of minutes, and when cleaning it effortlessly glides across the floor without being too slippery to lose control. It can also lie completely flat to reach under furniture, one of the harder cleaning tasks, with a handle that's designed to be used at this angle.
Its self-cleaning function and self-drying cycle are thorough, taking an hour to fully dry the roller after a clean. This is paramount when it comes to preventing the growth of mold, mildew and bacteria. Other vacuum-mop combos in this guide do a much faster drying cycle which is more efficient, but won't give them the appropriate treatment to dry completely.
Much like the the majority of the best cordless vacuum cleaners, this can run for 40 minutes on a single charge, which is also the standard for vacuum-mops. The only drawbacks I found during testing were that the floors were more slippery after cleaning than other models, and the roller became stained during my mustard test, and neither continuous use nor repeated cleaning cycles removed it. But the rollers are used temporarily anyway and your first replacement is included in the box.
Find more info and videos in our full Dreame H14 Pro review.
Runner-up best vacuum-mop combo
The Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is a comprehensive vacuum-mop that can clean almost as well as the Dreame H14 Pro, just a little slower.
It cleaned up the messes from my five tests easily and mostly effortlessly. It particularly stood out when it cleaned up after the Dyson WashG1 which, when attempting to vacuum the broken egg, became clogged up and leaked dirty liquid all over the floor. I'd attempted to clean it four more times with the Dyson and the same happened each time, but the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro vacuumed the broken egg and all of the buckets of murky water the Dyson had left behind with no fuss whatsoever.
The Dyson also spread mustard across the floor while the Tineco vacuumed it in one pass without leaving any residue behind. The ketchup and pasta sauce were vacuumed from the hardwood floors almost instantly, too.
The solid pieces of the broken egg and cereal posed a slight challenge for the S7 Pro, but it still managed to completely clear all mess after just a few more passes. So while it might not be as efficient as the Dreame H14 Pro above, there's still no mess it can't handle. It does, however, leave the floor much drier than the Dreame after cleaning, which is a bonus.
It also propels itself forward while you're vacuuming, in a way that makes its gliding effortless rather than difficult to control. It has a slick appliance, and even reclines itself with an almost-satisfying smooth motion compared to the clunkier mechanisms of other models. It isn't the most flexible however and doesn't come close to being able to lay flat and get under items that need cleaning.
All the info you need is clearly visible on the LED screen and it even detects what's on your floors so you know when it's done cleaning. Its red 'mess' ring will gradually return to 'clean' blue once you've vacuumed and mopped the floors fully.
With a retail price of $699.99, it costs just as much as the Dreame H14 Pro above. Consider what's more important: more efficient cleaning and flexibility, or drier floors faster?
Find more info and videos in our full Tineco Floor One S7 Pro review.
Value pick vacuum-mop combo
The Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 is the predecessor to the S7 Pro above, and the two vacuums are identical in terms of their LED screens, runtime, charge time and cleaning modes. But where the S7 Pro excels in its cleaning performance, the Stretch S6 shines in its flexibility.
It's called the 'Stretch' S6 because it can lay completely flat, but what separates it from others that do this (like the Dreame H14 Pro), is that it automatically adjusts the power to avoid any loss in suction. Tineco also built the clean water tank into the floorhead so that the water source is uninterrupted when in this position.
The Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 was able to clean every mess I threw at it, just a little less efficiently than the others in this guide. It cleaned ketchup, mustard and pasta sauce after a single forward-and-backward pass, but struggled to vacuum egg shell pieces as quickly. The floorhead opening is narrower than others (see our vacuum jargon buster for more detailed explanation of these terms), which explains why the large pieces need repeated vacuuming so the brushroll can crush them down first.
I found a similar performance with milk and cereal, where the milk was vacuumed immediately but the cereal was pushed around until I eventually lifted and dropped the vacuum on each piece to get the last of it. But even though it can be a bit slow, it can still handle all the things you can clean with a wet/dry vacuum. It's also worth noting that these standardized tests help us find out everything the vacuum's capable of, but might not be reflective of the typical daily floor cleaning you'll be doing at home most of the time.
If you have any back, hip or knee pain, and struggle to bend or crouch down, it's worth knowing this vacuum-mop's water tank is located in the floorhead. You'll therefore need to use your own container to fill up the clean water tank as it can't be positioned under a kitchen faucet.
Otherwise, I'm a big fan of the Stretch S6, and if you want to spend $100 less than the other two top performers in this guide, look no further.
Find more info and videos in our full Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 review.
How to choose the best vacuum-mop combo
Picking a vacuum-mop to fit your most important requirements will increase the odds you'll be happy with your purchase
Finding the right vacuum-mop combo is a little different to knowing how to choose a vacuum cleaner. It's a relatively new type of cleaning appliance so there isn't as much choice on the market compared to the hundreds of upright, cordless and canister vacuums available.
For the most part, they're quite similar. Your decision will therefore largely come down to the water tank size, the appliance's flexibility, cleaning performance and whether you want smart features or not.
If you have a big home and plan to use the vacuum-mop to clean the whole house in one session, you'll need a large water tank, otherwise you'll be taking breaks to re-fill it. Look for water tanks above 25 fluid ounces; all of the options in this guide are higher than that and I've used them for extensive cleaning sessions without running out.
It's also worth looking at battery life. Unlike the best cordless vacuums that are used for much more (like cleaning curtains and vacuuming furniture), you're only using it on hard floors. I can clean my home's 1100 sq. ft. of hard flooring in under 30 minutes, but if your home is particularity big, aim for 40-60 minutes of runtime.
Flexibility is important if your home has lots of furniture and tight spaces. I can confirm that it's a bit of a nightmare reaching under a table with a rigid cleaner, so look out for easy tilting, easy turning and the ability to lay flat if you'll need to clean under furniture. The Dyson WashG1, while not being the best cleaner, was an absolute breeze to use in this way.
Smart features can range from sensing what's on your floors (akin to Dyson's laser vacuums) to smartphone connectivity. In all honesty, I don't see much value in using an app for a wet floor cleaner, but if you enjoy having greater control over your cleaning modes, it'll help. Floor detection is absolutely worth it if you can afford the luxury, as knowing when your floor is clean and using a vacuum that automatically adjusts based on how dirty the floor is will make cleaning much easier.
Cleaning performance can't be assumed from a product page, as most brands will claim theirs cleans better than the competitors. For this, you'll need to read reviews and see it in action, which is why at Homes & Gardens we run five tests for each and film the results.
How we test
You can read about our complete testing methodology at our dedicated page on how we test vacuums.
We run the same five cleaning tests for every vacuum-mop combo:
- 1 tablespoon of ketchup. Ketchup is a classic household mess that's chemically similar to many of the sauces we regularly spill.
- 1 tablespoon of mustard. Mustard leaves a stubborn oily residue that can make stain removal a nightmare.
- 2 tablespoons of chunky tomato and vegetable pasta sauce. Shows how well a vacuum can handle a combined mixture of liquid and solid matter.
- 1 egg, dropped from 5 feet. One of the toughest tests because of the egg's thick and greasy consistency and the large shell pieces that some models struggle to vacuum.
- 1 cup of milk and cereal. The small, light cereal pieces can easily be pushed or flung around, and this test checks whether you can expect this in your home.
Aside from the cleaning tests, we evaluate each vacuum-mop combo's ease of use, how much effort is required to fill and empty the water tanks, and how effective the smart features are. If a model has unique features like a smartphone app or extra cleaning modes, we assess whether they're luxuries, gimmicks or absolutely worth the spend.
I'm the home tech editor and I've tested all four of the vacuum-mop combos we've got our hands on in our dedicated test center. I review vacuums on a daily basis, and have so far spent 150+ hours testing 19 vacuum for Homes & Gardens.
FAQs
Do vacuum-mop combos really work?
Yes, and in my experience as a floorcare appliance tester, they're absolutely worth it. They're not quite multi-purpose enough to replace your traditional upright vacuum or cordless vacuum, but for any home with mostly hard floors, it's a gamechanger. Vacuuming and mopping simultaneously using a machine that does most of the work for you can actually make cleaning fun!
What are the cons of a vacuum-mop combo?
The main drawbacks are cost and versatility. Spending $100s on an appliance that can only clean your floors might feel a little excessive, when you can buy a vacuum cleaner for less that can tackle floors, furniture, curtains, shelves and your car. But as the vacuum-mop market continues to grow, we'll see more budget-friendly options appear, and perhaps some newer features to tackle other surfaces around the house – as we have done with the best carpet cleaners for pets.
Next, discover more smart home cleaning tools, and how to clean floors efficiently with a steam mop.
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