If it's sneezin' season year-round in your house, you'll need a solid cleaning regime to keep allergens at bay.

For allergies to things like dust mites or pet dander, a good vacuum is your best defense.

But how can you tell which type to choose, and which one will help with the specific allergy you're managing?

CHOICE experts rigorously test vacuums in our on-site laboratories, assessing their ability to pick up dirt from hard floors and carpet, and to bust pet hair. 

Plus they assess how easy each vacuum is to empty, which can really make a difference to your exposure to dust and pet hair.

Here, they share the knowledge they've acquired over years of testing to help you find the right type of vacuum for your household, and other things to consider when cleaning.

Plus, for CHOICE members only, we'll reveal which barrel, stick and robot vacuums are best for cleaning hard floors and carpet, and for cleaning up pet hair. 

If you want to find out which vacuums come out on top, join CHOICE to get instant access to all of our expert, independent reviews.

If you're already a member and you just want to see the best products, you can jump straight to the results now.

Furry friends are part of the family, but you'll need a good vacuum if anyone in your household is allergic.

Features to look for in a vacuum for allergies

Our expert testers run rigorous tests to assess all aspects of a vacuum's performance, including how well they clean hard floors and carpet, how much pet hair they pick up, whether they're any good at cleaning corners and edges, and how easy they are to use.

Every household is different, so some of these may not be important for you – for instance, if you don't have a pet, or if your house has mostly hard floors. Our detailed vacuum reviews have all the information you need to make the right choice for your household.

Here's what to consider when buying a new vacuum to help with allergies.

• A bagless vacuum may sound convenient but bear in mind that you'll have to empty it, which could expose you to the dust you've just vacuumed up.
• While a bagged vacuum might seem old-fashioned and annoying to use, the bag contains the dust and allergens so they won't be released back into the air. You'll need to keep buying the bags, which is a cost that adds up over time and is an issue if you run out.
• We rate each vacuum on how easy it is to open and empty the bag or bin, so check our barrel and upright vacuum reviews to find the right one for you.
• A power head is the most effective type for cleaning carpet – it agitates the carpet pile, which releases more of the dirt.

Emptying a bagless vacuum can release allergens back into the air.

Stick vacuums

• Some sticks have a self-emptying dock: when you put the vacuum on to charge, the dock empties the vacuum's dust bin so you don't have to. The dock's dust bin can hold around 5–6 times the volume of the stick vacuum's dust bins, so you won't need to empty it as often. There's often a large bag inside the bin which has its pros and cons: it contains the allergens so they won't be released back into the air, but they can be expensive. Some models are bagless.
• In the past, stick vacuums haven't typically performed as well on carpet as traditional vacs, but some of the higher-end sticks now do as good a job as barrel vacuums. But check our stick vacuum reviews to make sure you're buying the best for your needs.
• Running time for stick vacuums will determine how long you can clean for – so depending on how large your house is and which power setting you're using, you may not be able to clean the whole house on one charge. The average full-charging time for the stick vacuums in our review is four hours, but can be as much as eight hours. If you want to increase your cleaning time, look for a vac that comes with two batteries, or buy an extra one.
• Some sticks come with a fluffy or soft head for hard floors, which will help you get the dust up more efficiently.

Look for a vacuum that has good reach under low furniture so you can pick up all the dust bunnies.

Robot vacuums

• You can set robot vacs on a cleaning schedule to run every day (or as often as you need), so dust and other allergens won't accumulate as much. Look for a robot that has an easy-to-use app – we give each robot vac we test a score for app connectivity and ease of use to help you tell which is best for scheduled cleaning.
• Many robots have a HEPA filter (read on to find out more about these), which can make a big difference to the allergen load in your house.
• Most of the robot vacuums in our review have a self-emptying dock similar to a stick vacuum dock, which will help reduce your contact with allergens.
• Our experts say that a robot vacuum isn't a replacement for a good barrel or stick vacuum, but they can be helpful for keeping on top of the vacuuming in between deeper cleans.
• Unfortunately robo vacs aren't great at cleaning carpet, so if your house is mostly carpeted then they won't do much to clean up allergens. They're better suited to homes with mostly hard floors.
• Most robot vacs these days have a mopping function, which will give you another layer of protection against allergens. However, mopping performance varies widely between models, with some missing large sections of the floor. Mopping scores for the models in our robot vacuum review range from 20% to 90%.
• If your house has lots of carpet and you're dealing with allergies to pets, check which robot vacs score highest on our pet hair removal score – this measures how well the vacuum picks up cat hair that's been embedded in carpet. The best robot vacs score 80% on this test, but one robot scored just 20%.

Is a HEPA filter helpful?

HEPA filters trap the tiniest particles – even viruses and bacteria – so they're a great option for households with allergies.

When you use a vacuum with a HEPA filter, the air is blown back out into the room through the filter, which captures allergens and makes sure that they don't make it back into your house.

Aside from the usual dust, debris and pet hair that vacuums pick up, a vacuum with a HEPA filter will also capture dust mite droppings, pollen, mould, pet dander and tobacco particles.

To meet HEPA standards, they need to trap at least 99.95% (European standard) or 99.97% (US standard) of a vacuum's emissions, down to 0.3 microns in size. In comparison, regular vacuum filters trap around 96% of the dirt.

Some things to consider if you're looking at buying a vacuum with a HEPA filter:

• They can be more expensive than other vacuums. However, you can find barrel vacs with HEPA filters for less than $300 and sticks under $300.
• You should clean your vacuum's filters regularly, and you'll need to replace HEPA filters every few months (depending on how often you vacuum and how dusty your house is).
• Replacement HEPA filters aren't cheap: some run as high as $99.

Here's a more detailed run-down of what to know about HEPA filters: Can a HEPA filter vacuum help with allergies and asthma?

What are the best vacuums for allergies?

We independently test and review dozens of new vacuums each year in our on-site labs, and our experts know exactly what to look for to help you find the best product.

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