These are the top 4 robot vacuums for carpet after passing the cat hair test on my rugs

Read my initial review of the Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete.

The Dreame X60 Ultra Max Complete is the strongest robot vacuum on the market right now, making it a phenomenal choice for plush carpeting or lots of rugs that get heavy foot traffic. It should be the automatic top contender for multi-pet households that need daily upkeep of shedding. Its suction power delivers wicked pet hair pickup, and its heated mopping system with automatic detergent dispensing provides a sanitized scrub that's ideal for pet messes on hard floors.

Until the new Roborock Saros 20 vacuums release later this year, this Dreame model is the only option on the market with 35,000 Pa of suction power. That bumps the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller out of this spot, beating its suction power by 5,000 Pa. 35,000 Pa looks extra intense compared to the Roborock Saros 10R's 22,000 Pa, which was my pick for the best robot vacuum of 2025.

In my testing so far, the X60 Max Ultra Complete has consistently delivered strong performance on a variety of rug piles. I have two tortoiseshell cats whose fur often camouflages well, so one easy way to test a robot vacuum's pet hair pickup is to simply run a quick lint roller test. The sticky paper revealed just one or two cat hairs left over on any patch of my tufted living room rug or fluffy hall rug, and the bottoms of my socks prove that those rugs get layered with cat hair after just a day or two. The X60 Max Ultra Complete also had a near-perfect pickup rate with rice, powdered sugar, and a large spill of sprinkles on those rugs and my flat printed kitchen Ruggable.

Though not a direct facet of carpet cleaning, a thorough mopping system still plays a big part in keeping homes with pets feeling barefoot ready. The X60 Max Ultra Complete's vigorous suction power teams up well with its spinning mopping pads to wipe up minuscule physical debris that tends to stick to hard floors, like cat litter dust and ultra-fine hairs. Also noteworthy is the temperature of the water: This Dreame model actually uses hot water as it's mopping, hitting 104 degrees Fahrenheit to break down stubborn stains and greasier spills. Dreame includes two different sanitizing solutions that automatically dispense into the clean water tank ahead of mopping.

The X60 Max Ultra Complete also has the most updated version of Dreame's ProLeap system. Rather than just relying on wheels, this pair of retractable "legs" pop out when the X60 approaches a threshold like a really thick carpet, sliding door tracks, or a door saddle (the random piece of wood often found in doorways between different floor types). The X60 is much less likely to get stuck on rug corners or transitions into carpeted rooms.

Homes with accident-prone soft surfaces like light-colored carpeting and rugs, non-velvet or leather furniture, or carpeted stairs would probably use a portable carpet cleaner as much as they use the robot vacuum itself. The Eufy E28's strong suction power and ability to clean liquid stains from carpet would be particularly comforting in homes with pets or kids.

The Eufy E28 probably won't fit well in a small apartment. With so many pieces and tanks, the station is an absolute unit. While it does save space if you're downsizing from a whole separate carpet cleaner, the E28 would take up an obnoxious amount of floor space.

A ton of robot vacuums have tenacious carpet-ready suction power, and a ton of robot vacuums can successfully mop stains off of hard floors. But that still leaves a blind spot in the robotic floor cleaning industry: stains on soft floors. So, the Eufy E28 Omni is kind of like if a Bissell Little Green-type device were accessibly attached to your robot vacuum. I could see a lot of people being more likely to be proactive about liquid stains if they knew there wasn't this big to-do with digging a carpet cleaner out of storage. Instead, the carpet cleaner here is essentially just the whole top part of the dock, down to the same water tanks. Just un-click it with the handle on the top, unwrap the nozzle, hoist it to the scene of the crime, and press the water trigger. (Unfortunately, it still needs to be plugged in.)

My first order of business was my beige living room rug. It had been harboring various small stains of condiments like red sauce and pesto, plus a blot in the shape of cat puke. The E28 pulled them up far better than dabbing with a cloth ever did. And even if there aren't always glaring stains to go after, I can still see myself being comforted by the option of a legit carpet deep cleaner after guests accidentally walk in with shoes on.

I wasn't about to risk testing it on my velvet couch, but the E28 did roadtrip to my parents' house to take a whack at patio furniture and a dirty garage couch. Like after dealing with my living room rug, the water was brown — and all of those cushions smelled far less musty afterward.

As a robot vacuum standing on its own, the E28 Omni isn't the best that I've ever tried. But it's definitely still powerful enough for manning your carpets on a daily basis. Its 20,000 Pa of suction power matches that of most of the most powerful models on the market mid-2025. Plus, it has the split-down-the-middle dual rubber brush system that I've found actually prevents long hair wrapping.

Budget shoppers who really don't want to settle for underwhelming cleaning need to know that the 3i G10+ exists. This niche, inexpensive pick eclipses any other robot vacuum under $500 in the pet hair department — and even has stronger suction power than many premium robot vacuums. If you have a heavy rug situation (over fully carpeted rooms), the G10+'s automatic rug detection makes for much more streamlined full-room cleaning on your end.

The 3i G10+ is the incredibly rare budget option with small obstacle avoidance that can steer clear of cords or socks, plus pet waste — a lifesaver if there's a decent chance your floors are sporting random clutter at any given time.

This is the first robot vacuum I've ever tested from 3i, and I already know it's going to be one of my most recommended robot vacuums of the year. Its dust-compacting element, which relieves you of manual dustbin duty for more than two months without a self-empty dock taking up extra space, is the main feature being advertised — but it's hardly the most impressive thing about the G10+.

Before cleaning even started, I was wowed by the level of accuracy and detail of the G10+'s initial map of my apartment. It recognized beds, credenzas, and toilets all on its own, and automatically remembered where all of the rugs were. The app's perception of my home only got more impressive when the G10+ started deciphering between obstacles like socks and makeshift pet waste (brown sugar). But small obstacle avoidance isn't the only high-end feature 3i squeezed in here — there's also a livestream pet camera. That was firmly a $1,000+ robot vacuum feature until now.

All of that brainpower isn't just fluff, either. The G10+ is a beast at cleaning. Its 18,000 Pa of suction power is super high for this price range, and you can tell that the G10+ is working hard as it moves extra slowly when carpet is sensed. In zone cleaning mode, the grid pattern it cleans in significantly ups the chance of picking up debris that it missed at the first angle. The G10+ also never got stuck on a rug or even left a corner flipped up.

Read my full review of the Eufy X10 Pro Omni.

Shoppers looking to squeeze the longest feature menu out of a sub-$1,000 budget should look to Eufy's newest flagship model. With small obstacle avoidance and a fully self-sufficient mopping system, the X10 Pro Omni is way more autonomous than the similarly-priced Roomba Combo j7+ or Roborock Q8 Max+. The X10 Pro Omni has amazing battery life even when using its highest suction mode, making it ideal for tackling lots of square footage or multiple stories without needing to charge.

If your home is anything like mine — where a chaotic underbed storage situation and rogue extension cords make it tricky to run many robot vacuums when you're not home — you'll want to prioritize AI-powered small obstacle avoidance, like Eufy has given the X10 Pro Omni.

Not to be confused with the (less impressive, more expensive) Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, the Eufy X10 Pro Omni is the brand's first self-emptying hybrid model that also self-refills the water tank and self-washes and dries the mopping pads, all within that same self-empty dock. That fully self-sufficient mopping system is a feature I've seen before, but never really seen before below $1,000.

Eufy's carpet cleaning deserves equal attention. On paper, 8,000 Pa of suction is beastly at any price point. During in-home testing, it successfully cleared a thick, purposefully-spilled heap of rice from a medium pile runner and soil from a flat weave rug. It did struggle on deep cleaning spilled flour and getting into corners, but then again, more expensive vacs do, too.

I came across one quirk that hinders Eufy's impressive suction power from cleaning to its full potential. Its obstacle avoidance camera was working so hard to not get stuck that it mistook a small fluffy bath mat for clothing and gave up on one section of the bathroom altogether, leaving strewn kitty litter untouched. Unfortunately, Eufy's app doesn't let you dismiss a perceived obstacle as "incorrect," so the bath mat needed to be moved.