Robot vacuums under $500 that are worth buying
By Emma Walsh
You don't need to spend four figures to have a robot keep the floors tidy. Every robot in our under-$500 band maps with a laser, so it cleans in rows and knows where it has been. What changes from one cheap robot to the next is suction, height, battery and how much the dock does, and you probably only need to care about one of those.
Best overall
Xiaomi
Robot Vacuum H40
- The strongest suction of the three, at 10,000 Pa
- The dock empties the bin into a 4-litre dust bag
- A comb strips hair off the V-shaped main brush
- At 9.7 cm it's the tallest of the three picks here
Best for low furniture
eufy
Auto-Empty C10
- The slimmest robot in our list, at 7.2 cm tall
- The dock empties the bin into a 3-litre dust bag
- A side brush on an arm that reaches into corners
- Vacuum only, and 4,000 Pa is the lowest in our list
Best budget
Ecovacs
Deebot N20
- Up to 300 minutes and 550 square metres on a charge
- A 400 ml bin, against 240 ml on the eufy pick
- Vacuums and mops with a flat pad in the same run
- No self-emptying dock, so you empty the bin yourself
What we look for in a budget robot vacuum
Emptying the bin
A robot's own bin is small. A self-emptying dock sucks the dust out of it into a bag after each run, and you change the bag when it fills. Without one you tip the bin out by hand, which is quick but has to be remembered.
Read the explainerHeight
Measure the gap under your couch and beds. A robot a centimetre too tall cleans around them and leaves the dust underneath, which is usually where most of it is.
Suction
Suction is measured in pascals (Pa), and more of it helps most on carpet and rugs. On hard floors the gap between these three matters less than the number suggests.
Read the explainerFinding its way
Every robot in our under-$500 band maps with a laser, so it cleans in rows and knows where it has been. A laser map doesn't show a cable or a sock lying on the floor, so pick those up first.
Read the explainerThe mop, if there is one
Most robots in our under-$500 band mop with a flat pad. It will wipe dust and footprints off a hard floor and it won't scrub. Count it as a bonus and choose on the vacuum.
Read the explainerSide by side
| Best overallRobot Vacuum H40 | Best for low furnitureAuto-Empty C10 | Best budgetDeebot N20 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Vacuum and mop | Vacuum only | Vacuum and mop |
| Suction | 10,000 Pa | 4,000 Pa | 8,000 Pa |
| Mop | Flat pad | No mop | Flat pad |
| Dock | Empties the bin | Empties the bin | Charging only |
| Height | 9.7 cm | 7.2 cm | 9.6 cm |
| Longest run | 180 minutes | Not stated | 300 minutes |
| Bin in the robot | Not stated | 240 ml | 400 ml |
| Dust bag in the dock | 4 litres | 3 litres | No bag |
| Check price | Check price | Check price |
"Not stated" means the brand doesn't give that number. Open a product's spec sheet to see where each figure was read.
Which one is for you
- You want strong suction and a dock that empties the bin
Robot Vacuum H40 - The gap under your couch or bed is under 9.6 cm
Auto-Empty C10 - You'd rather skip the dust bags and tip out a bin by hand
Deebot N20 - You have a big house: it covers up to 550 square metres on a chargeDeebot N20
Best overallXiaomi Robot Vacuum H40
The H40 is what we’d tell most people on a tight budget to buy. It has 10,000 Pa of suction, the most of our three picks, and its dock empties the robot into a 4-litre bag. No dust bag in our list is bigger.
The main brush is V-shaped, with a comb that strips hair off it. The side brush fitted for hard floors is an anti-tangle design, and you swap it for the plain one if the robot will be working on carpet. In the app you can set what it does at each carpet: cross it, ignore it, avoid it or vacuum only. There are four suction levels, from silent to turbo, and the robot works with Alexa and Google Assistant as well as the Xiaomi Home app.
It also mops, with a flat pad fed from a 210 ml tank at three flow levels. That’s a damp wipe for a hard floor and no more. A 5,200 mAh battery gives it up to 180 minutes of vacuuming and mopping in standard mode, and it maps with a laser like the other two picks.
The catch is height. The robot is 9.7 cm tall, the tallest of our three picks, so measure the gap under your couch before you order. It climbs a 2 cm sill, and its dock measures 34 by 16 by 33 cm.
If your couch sits low, the eufy below is 2.5 cm shorter and is the one to get. If you don’t want a dock with bags to buy, the Ecovacs has a plain charging dock and a 400 ml bin you tip out by hand.
Best for low furnitureeufy Auto-Empty C10
Get a ruler and measure the gap under your couch. If it’s less than 9.6 cm, the other two picks on this page can’t get in there, and this one probably can. The C10 is 7.2 cm tall, which makes it the slimmest robot in our list by nearly a centimetre.
The slim body comes with a lighter vacuum. It’s a vacuum only, so there’s no mop. Its 4,000 Pa of suction is the lowest in our list, which suits hard floors and flat rugs far better than thick carpet. It can also miss small objects and cables, which means a quick tidy of the floor before it runs.
What it does have is a dock that empties the 240 ml bin into a 3-litre bag, so the dusty part of the job only comes round when the bag is full. The dock measures 28 by 19 by 21 cm. The side brush sits on an arm that extends into corners, the robot detects carpet, and there are four suction levels from Quiet to Max. It maps with a laser like the other two.
The battery is 2,600 mAh, half the size of the one in each of the other two picks, and the robot weighs 2.5 kg. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant as well as the eufy app.
So this is a pick for one kind of house: hard floors and low furniture. If your couch has 10 cm or more under it, the Xiaomi has more than double the suction and mops as well. The Ecovacs is the one to look at if you’d rather not buy dust bags.
Best budgetEcovacs Deebot N20
Some people don’t want a dock with bags to buy, and the N20 is our pick for a house that’s happy to tip out a bin. It runs for up to 300 minutes on a 5,200 mAh battery and covers up to 550 square metres on a charge, so a big house is well within its reach.
The dock only charges. It measures 22 by 7 by 11 cm, and the robot’s 400 ml bin is emptied by hand. That bin is a good deal bigger than the eufy’s 240 ml one, which means fewer trips to the kitchen bin.
On the floor it has 8,000 Pa of suction, double the eufy’s figure and short of the Xiaomi’s 10,000. The main brush is a bristle roller with angled bristles and comb teeth, a sensor tells it when it’s on carpet, and it runs at 65 dBA. It maps with a laser. The mop is a flat pad with a 220 ml tank. The pad doesn’t lift for carpet and doesn’t reach out to the edges, so take it off before a carpet run and think of it as a wipe for the middle of the kitchen floor.
It’s 9.6 cm tall and climbs a 2 cm sill with the mop fitted. It works with Google Assistant and Alexa.
The catch, apart from the bin, is charging: a full charge takes about 6.5 hours, so a robot that has run itself flat is done for the day. If tipping out a bin sounds like a chore you’ll skip, the Xiaomi’s dock does it for you and holds a 4-litre bag. And at 9.6 cm this one is no better under a low couch than the Xiaomi, so that job still belongs to the eufy.
Final thoughts
At this price you choose the one thing that matters most in your house. For most people that's a dock that empties the bin, and the Xiaomi H40 pairs one with the most suction of the three, so it's our pick.
If the robot has to get under a low couch, the eufy Auto-Empty C10 is the only one of the three slim enough, and you accept a weaker vacuum to get there. The Deebot N20 skips the self-emptying dock and covers up to 550 square metres on a charge, so it's the one for a big floor and an owner who doesn't mind tipping out a bin.
