Best Quiet Vacuum Cleaners 2023: Reviews and Buying Guide
It takes either a writer or a mother to appreciate the peace and quiet of a house.
Fortunately, I’m both. I can understand moms and dads doing some cleaning around the house while their kids are asleep.
We want the work to be done quickly and without disturbing our kids while their asleep.
Also, we try our best to schedule cleaning hours at a time when it’s least disturbing to the elderly in our house or our neighbors.
At A Glance: Our Top Picks for the Best Quite Vacuum Cleaners
One lousy vacuum cleaner with nagging sounds can spoil our plans of a quiet evening for our kids and the neighbors.
Sure, we do everything in our powers to hush the sound. Sometimes, that costs us a lot of money.
But what if I told you an easy way around the problem?
Choose best quiet vacuum cleaners to begin with. If you’re lacking the motivation to do some research, I’ve got just the list for you.
I’ve also explained my reasons for choosing the brands and models on the list. Let’s get to it.
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What to consider when buying a Quiet vacuum cleaner?
Everyone has his/her own style of research when going about purchasing these things for their houses.
The tips I’m about to speak of are some of the things that I considered while buying my two of my own machines for the cleaning job.
I hope these pointers help you out.
Deciding on the Type of Quiet Vacuum Cleaner You Want
People shopping for vacuum cleaners will encounter various types of these machines. For example, there’s a handheld version.
You get to walk around carrying this thing with you and clean nooks and crannies of your house. These are lightweight and portable machines.
I suggest people with back issues go with this type. Also, if you have a small apartment, a handheld vacuum cleaner is the order of the day for you.
Then you have the corded and cordless versions of cleaners. The corded version uses less battery power to get around.
You won’t need to worry about charging the machine for a while after the battery runs out. But the majority of the attachments will limit your reach.
The thing that annoys me most about these machines is the fact that the users need to have an electric outlet nearby and in every room that they need to clean.
Then, there’s the issue of having a short leash or cord to deal with.
The upright version stands tall and remains so without assistance. You don’t need to bend your body to clean the carpet.
These things actually generate less sound than the handheld variety of cleaners.
Also, some of the brands provide numerous attachments as a part of the package. These help the users to effortlessly clean different parts of their houses.
Canister vacuum cleaners come with numerous benefits and a solid construction. The construction helps if you’re looking for a quiet machine to do the job.
I also like the fact that these machines come with a bigger storage option for dirt and dust than the others.
If you’re stuck in between a canister type and an upright vacuum cleaner, go for the canister type as it emits fewer vibrations and sound than the latter.
If you want the quietest vacuum cleaner type, go for the robotic cleaners. These machines are equipped with silent motors.
One can pair these things with a bunch of apps and services.
As a result, the users get to operate the devices handsfree and from a distance.
Consider How Your Machine is Built
This is one thing that I’d advise you guys to look into right away after deciding on the type of cleaner you want.
Since we’re shopping for silent vacuum cleaners (relatively speaking), construction of each model and type play a key role.
A machine like this should have no unnecessary openings to let the sound escape.
Make sure you buy one with small openings if not completely sealed. This makes the sound waves travel less distance to escape.
As a result, you won’t hear terrible noises when the machine or the filter within it is at work.
A well-built machine cleans well too. A vacuum cleaning device from Dyson is well put together.
The efficiency in design shines when we see how well it collects and disposes of the dirt. The key here is the tightly sealed joints of the machine.
Are You Into Additional Accessories?
It’s pretty much a given at this point that people will get additional accessories like air hoses, an attachment to clean the inside of their car, and one to clean after your pets’ dirty night on the couch.
These attachments or accessories increase the cost too.
Sometimes, we buy an expensive machine and find out that there are parts of it that we don’t really need.
That’s why I’d advise people to consider how many accessories and additional perks do they actually need before buying.
If you don’t use a fancy app like Alexa or prefer automated cleaning, there’s no need of purchasing a robotic cleaner spending hundreds of dollars.
A simple device with fewer perks will do just fine.
Get A Durable, Storage-Friendly Model
I always feel that vacuum cleaners are meant to last a long time. Otherwise, there’s no point in spending triple digits on a product.
These things house intricate parts inside. You need a sturdy outer shell that can withstand shocks and damages to a certain extent.
Make sure that the cleaner is perfect in size. A minimalistic cleaner helps people with storage issues.
Even if you don’t buy a minimalistic cleaner, make sure you can dissect the cleaner in parts to store it properly. This way, people won’t end up damaging wires and hoses.
Look at The Noise Level of A Machine
I’ve been saying all along that it’s impossible to find a truly silent machine for the cleanup job.
People will have to set a level of sound that they are comfortable with. The safe bet is staying on or beneath 85 decibels for 8 hours a day.
While selecting products for recommendation, I tried to strike a balance between noise level and performance.
I set the bar in between 60 – 70 decibels of sound (with one exception). If you don’t know, 60 decibels is the sound of normal human conversations.
Granted you’ll notice varying noise levels. The noise levels move up and down depending on how much effort the motor is putting in to run the cleaner.
The noise will increase when you’re operating with the machine at top gear. Many of these machines will show the decibels.
The following image will help you find out how quiet your machine is by comparing it to noises various things make.
Which Part of the House You Need Cleaning?
This is an interesting thin to think about. Most of us buy a vacuum machine for the entire house.
But there are some who might require machine for a special place or a job. For example, I know people who want their pet house cleaned.
People are often very particular about what types of floors they have in the house or how big are the children’s rooms.
They need special machines that can clean specific types of floors, carpets, and areas to good effect.
Don’t get me wrong, the vacuum cleaners are well-equipped to take on each and every part of the house.
But there is an issue of attachments or accessories that I mentioned earlier. A handful of cleaners don’t come with equipment to help clean the ceiling or pet litter.
You should avoid those if you do the ceiling cleaning yourselves.
Get a machine with tiny nozzles that can reach small spaces and are able to pick up tiny animal furs.
Also, consider the capacity of the dust storage or dust bags when buying a product such as this. You don’t want to buy a product that needs emptying every five minutes.
A good way to avoid this is by surveying your house and the areas you need the vacuum cleaners for.
Get A Device with an Air Filter
Believe me, having a filter on a vacuuming machine helps. A quality air filter sucks in allergenic dust particles from the air.
Then, it traps the allergens and dust inside saving people with allergies in the process.
Sometimes normal vacuuming devices clean our surroundings but release the stink back in the environment.
That’s where a reputed brand with air filter triumphs. In addition to cleaning wet and dry wastes, these cleaners release a soothing scent in the air.
Buying such a machine will do you little good if you don’t run proper maintenance on the filter from time to time.
Make sure to pick apart the machine in every three months, wash, and clean the filters like its instructed in the manual.
I researched for hours to find the best combination of benefits in vacuum cleaning devices. I tried cleaning with some of these machines too.
My experience and extensive research helped in putting together the following list of five of the top silent vacuum cleaners of different kinds.
There’s a machine for everybody on this list.
Best Quiet Vacuum Cleaners 2021
I decided to go traditional for my first recommendation.
So, here’s Shark Rotator Corded Vacuum Cleaner right at the top.
I like this thing because of the sealing technology it uses. Thanks to this, the cleaner is able to trap 99% of the dust and allergens into a compartment.
I must add that the dust container is of XL size. It’s enough to clean a small to a medium-size apartment in one go.
If you are worried about junk getting inside your vacuum machine and disrupting the operation, don’t.
There’s a HEPA filter in place to prevent filth from getting inside the critical parts of this cleaner and bearing an impact on the overall performance.
I’ve seen people getting worried when their houses are a bit cramped and they want to maneuver around all the furniture.
With the swivel steering of this upright vacuum cleaner, bypassing heavy furniture is not a problem anymore.
Furthermore, the LED lights let people see where the cleaning head is at any point in time.
This is extremely helpful when you’re cleaning around the tight corners in low light at night time.
I understand that people need extra maneuverability when cleaning a tough corner of their house. This is true for a place that’s normally out of the reach of this corded cleaner as well.
Normal vacuum cleaners would require people to move it to a different location.
Shark Rotator is different. Here, people have the luxury of a detachable canister. You can easily attach the nozzle with it and clean the ceiling too if you feel like it.
We all love our pets. They make our house whole. But sometimes, these cute and adorable companions can be a handful and dirty our carpets while playing.
Thankfully, Shark Upright Vacuum Cleaner features a pet brush. It picks up on hair and all the debris from our friends.
Don’t worry, the brush cleans deep into your carpets. Removing dander isn’t a problem at all.
Have a floor that’s made of hardwood or any other material? Don’t worry, this brush cleans all types of floors without discriminating.
Now, how quiet is this thing? As it turns out, the noise can vary depending on which attachment you use.
But I’ll tell you this: At best, the vacuum cleaner will be just beyond the human conversation. But not by several notches.
It doesn’t sound like a high-pitched whistle. I can tell you, the pets won’t mind the sound and will act normally.
Yes, we’re talking about a mini-sized robot here.
This little robot cleans our houses and remains silent while doing it.
Another thing to note here is that people don’t need much space to keep this thing stored after the job is done.
Let me give you an idea of how useful the design of the product is.
This thing is sleek. It blends perfectly with our homes. The makers gave N795 an “Anti-Scratch” finish.
Don’t worry folks, this thing comes with protective bumpers to guard again damages as well.
I also like the fact that the makers gave the cleaner all the tools it needs for cleaning. You’ll have all the attachments in the package.
You’ll have a docking station, one main brush for the job, two additional brushes, and a remote control to help you operate this thing.
I loved three distinct cleaning modes and the “Automatic Cleaning” feature that it came with. You have the “Motion Guided” cleaning mode.
This mode allows ECOVACS DEEBOT N795 to clean by detecting people and moving objects around it. It’d hardly get stuck in a place.
Thanks to this, it won’t crash into your furniture.
Secondly, there’s a “Spot Mode.” People should turn it on when they need a single room to be cleaned or a spot where there’s too much dirt to overlook.
Worried about hard-to-reach areas of your houses? As it turns out, ECOVACS N795 comes with an “Edge Mode” too.
This nifty feature helps clean the areas normal cleaners will have troubles to reach and navigate.
Don’t worry. The cleaning efficiency will never deteriorate while the machine’s in this mode.
In fact, it does a wonderful job sucking in harmful in the air. Yes, this thing acts sort of an “Air Filter.”
But let me make this clear: The N795 isn’t a stand-in for a full-blown air filter by any means. It “Just” gets the job done.
Cleaning modes alone aren’t enough when it comes to tackling a dirty space of your house. I get that. So do the makers.
That’s why the N795 has three “Cleaning Stages” to take care of the dirtiest corners of our houses. It’s like “One, Two Three… and the filth is gone!”
I liked the runtime of the vacuum cleaner as well. It features rechargeable a battery.
When fully charged, this little wonder machine can deliver up to 120 minutes of runtime.
This is a sweet deal considering one can mix and match different modes and speeds to cover one or multiple rooms within that time limit.
Once the ECOVACS N795 is out of juice, it comes back to the charging pod for a refill/recharge.
As far as the level of sound goes, this thing goes up to 67 dBA when running at a normal pace.
Put it on “Max” speed and the sound level will go up to 70 dBA.
Hey, this is quiet when you consider some of its rivals. People can even watch television when this robot goes about cleaning the house.
As far as convenience goes, there’s an ECOVACS app that helps people regulate this thing. One can pair it up with Google Home and Alexa as well.
I for one, wouldn’t look anywhere else for a vacuum cleaner neglecting all these features.
The thing with Cannister vacuums is that these machines have a large area to collect and store dust and dirt when cleaning.
People can easily clean the entire house in one go without making frequent trips to the garbage bin to empty the cleaner from time to time.
Miele Compact C2 continues this tradition. It cleans the house without harming your floors. This thing comes with SBB Parquet-3 Pure Suction Floorhead which is great for hard floors.
Be it tiles or hardwood, soft bristles of this attachment will take care of the dirt without causing scratches to the floor.
While we’re discussing this device cleaning floorheads, I should add the fact that Miele does a wonderful job of cleaning carpets as well.
Remember the Electro+ in the name? It’s a five-setting floorhead which cleans all types of carpets. The height isn’t an issue here.
What you have is a beater bar in operation. This thing is particularly useful when people are trying to remove stubborn soil embedded deep in the carpet.
This is a bliss for a pet lover like me.
Beater box is not the end of the story. People also have a dusting brush, an upholstery tool for the curtains, and a crevice tool to take care of the hard-to-reach places.
Best thing is, all of these attachments come clipped onto the hose for an easy access.
I must mention the six different suction settings people have at their disposal. These help in taking care of different surfaces at different levels of speed. What you have is a dial onboard.
One can adjust these settings easily by turning the dial to the appropriate position.
To be honest with you, these settings wouldn’t have been possible to put into place without a powerful motor.
So, here we are with a 1200-watt Vortex motor which drives the device. It delivers tremendous suction power when set at maximum level.
Expect this motor to keep power levels constant and as needed when operating within different settings.
Thanks to this, the bills are always minimal at the end of each year.
C2 Electro+ is certainly one of the best quiet vacuum cleaners around. the German design allows for a silent operation whenever this device is at work.
The motor I spoke of, is efficient and very quiet. Protective layers inside this device further dull the sound.
Even while working with the starter dust bag that came along the package, I didn’t notice any difference. I didn’t hear any squeaking or loud purring.
At the end of the day, what we hear is a pleasant noise and not one that’ll drive us and our pets nuts.
Makers have to be extra careful when putting out vacuum cleaners with dust bags. These things dish out exhaust air.
Contemporary cleaners don’t have that good of a system in place to clean the air. But Miele does! It’s got a HEPA filter in place!
This little filter takes out the allergenic particles and removes the stink from the air.
Naturally, the filter is washable and it doesn’t get clogged.
When it comes to silent vacuum cleaners, I’m not going to leave Dyson V8 out of my list.
This thing is cordless so people won’t have to jostle for the reach. No cords mean no entanglement and damaged parts too.
This is what I call freedom of cleaning!
People can use additional tools with the cleaner as well. I found three distinct attachments (including the floorhead) that can be paired up with this device.
The upright version is good for floors. Dyson uses the V8 motor in this case to get high-speed suction power. This is great for floors with carpets on.
No matter the length of the fibers, this device will always get to and suck in deeply engraved dirt within the carpets.
The handheld attachment is good for any specific area that needs extra attention and deep cleaning.
It’s particularly handy when you have pets who litter the house too much. You can clean atop your sofa set, curtains, and around your furniture with ease.
There’s also one to clean dirty corners of the ceiling. People don’t even have to use a stool to get to the ceiling anymore.
The attachment extends to give you the reach. If you’re tired of stretching your hand too far, this is the device to get.
Don’t worry, switching between these three attachments is a matter of seconds. There’s a trigger in place to help you do that. One push is all it takes.
The ceiling and the handheld cleaners use fade-free batteries to operate. When using batteries, it grants 40-minute runtime.
However, I’d advise people to charge the batteries for 4 hours straight before putting them to the cleaning task.
When in “Max” mode, these batteries can deliver the same suction capacity as the V8 motor.
Dyson V8 can keep sucking dirt up in that state for 8 minutes without letting up. Now that’s something!
I did some research and compared the V8 with the predecessor Dyson V6.
Guess what? The V8 vacuum cleaner is quieter and more efficient.
Not only that, the V8 has 150% more brush bar power than the previous Dyson V6. That’s a marked improvement in my book.
Dyson V8 doesn’t stop at cleaning the floor, sofa, and the ceiling.
While cleaning all these parts of our homes, it uses the state-of-the-art HEPA filter to expel clean, allergy-free air for us to breath in. This is not a full-blown air filter but hey, it does the job.
This vacuum cleaner device can filter the air for 25 minutes when working with the motorized floor cleaning tool.
This thing uses a 0.14-gallon bin to collect the dirt. You won’t even have to touch the bin to empty it. The machine will do that for you.
Have a sore back? Don’t fret.
The V8 is a lightweight machine. You won’t have trouble lifting it and clean different areas of your house.
I was torn apart between Eureka EasyClean and HoLife when it came to a silent handheld vacuum cleaner.
This one made the list because of powerful upgrades that’ll help people with the cleanup job and convenience in handling the device.
This vacuum cleaner is an ideal choice for people who want to cut down on price but not quality.
You are getting a vacuum cleaner with a strong motor under $100.
How strong? Well, it comes with a 90-watt DC motor. It’s very strong considering we’re dealing with a handheld vacuum cleaner.
But it is unobtrusive and enhances the cleaning experience. This motor helps this cleaner to generate 6kpa worth of suction pressure.
With this amount of pressure, one can clean hair, food residue, tiny air particles, and even tiny debris present in sofa cushions. I am talking about 0.1 microns here.
Why stop at the sofa when you can clean staircases?
I know people who clean car interiors using this device. It’s the perfect device for people looking for something to clean their dorms with. HoLife can clean a small apartment in one go.
HoLife comes with three accessories that can take care of all the cleaning. Makers included a crevice tool, a clean brush, and a dusting brush to take care of the job.
I think it’s the perfect time to mention that HoLife can take care of liquid waste as well.
Feel free to put the rubber jar to work next time your adorable cat pees on the carpet. This jar takes in up to 100mL of liquid waste.
This little tool is equipped with 2200mAh Lithium batteries.
Needless to say, these things are rechargeable. One full charge takes around 4 hours to complete. I love the charging dock as its compact and easy to use.
At full charge, the batteries grant it 30 minutes of runtime. Don’t worry, the battery is not toxic.
This is a lightweight machine. It weighs around 3.27lbs. That means users can clean the entire house while carrying this on hand.
I’d recommend people to use it while cleaning a 1615 sq. ft. room in one go.
So, how quiet is this thing?
I measured up the sound to be 78 dBa at maximum capacity. It stayed below the mark for most of the duration I used the product.
I’ve seen louder handheld vacuum cleaners. This is moderately silent in my opinion.
Since you’ll be managing and maneuvering this product by hand, the noise level will come down further.
The best quiet vacuum cleaners have one or two benefits besides the sound level to amaze the users. This one does too.
HoLife comes with two filters built inside the ergonomic mechanism. As a result, we get air twice as clean when compared with the normal cleaners.
That’s not the end of the story. I found this cordless vacuum cleaner convenient and super easy to pick apart and clean.
There’s a removable dirt bowl instead of a dust bag inside.
People need to press the “Lock” button and take that out along with the washable filters.
After emptying the dust bowl, feel free to clean it and the two filters the way you see fit.
On the Quietest Vacuum Cleaners
Make no mistake, all of my recommendations are best quiet vacuum cleaners in their own rights.
Everything depends on how you’re planning to use the model and where.
Different machines like upright vacuum cleaners are better for floors and handheld systems are great for special occasions.
Robotic cleaners are sort of all-rounders but super-pricey.
If you really want me to get into comparisons, I’ll have to give it to Miele and ECOVACS N795. Miele has the German design going for it. It’s lightweight too.
On the other hand, the N795 is smart and can be operated with just an app. Convenience at its very best.
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