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We know from experience that finding the best vacuum cleaner for your needs can be a mission. And the choice often comes down to one of two leading vacuum brands: Shark or Dyson.
They're both known for their cleaning prowess, leaving many shoppers torn. And that's before you have to decide whether you want an upright, cordless, cylinder or robot design. That’s where we can help.
Here at the Good Housekeeping Institute, we’ve been testing products for over 100 years and vacuums are our, err, bread and butter. So, our experts have meticulously tested and evaluated both brands in the lab over the years, discovering their strengths and weaknesses.
We know how well each brand picks up dirt from carpet fibres, hard floors and along wall edges. We tested their prowess when it comes to pet hair and assessed how easy they are to set up, manoeuvre and maintain.
If you’re struggling to decide between a Shark and a Dyson, here are the key differences we've identified after years of testing – plus which models we recommend for every task.
Shark vs. Dyson: Key differences at a glance
If there’s one thing that unites Shark and Dyson, it’s that they’re usually top performers in our tests. However, while they both offer innovative features and extended run times, they do take different approaches.
Brand USP
Shark prioritises convenience and flexibility. Its upright cleaners boast a “lift-away” feature that detaches the canister from the main body to quickly clean hard-to-reach areas like under furniture or up the stairs. Many of its cordless vacuums are also designed to pick up as much dirt moving backwards as they do going forward, and several designs feature air-freshening tech.
Dyson focuses heavily on 'best-in-class', technological innovation. Its vacuums feature advanced batteries and air filtration, along with a wide selection of attachments designed to avoid hair tangles. Dyson also pioneered the use of air cyclones to deliver superior suction and integrates intelligent sensors for measuring dust and debris, making it easier to eliminate them.
Price
Shark is the clear winner here, combining high-end features and performance with affordability. Below, you’ll find Shark vacuums ranging from £80 to £799.99 and we consider them to be a great value.
In contrast, Dyson’s innovations come at a premium. Its products can cost anywhere from £249.99 to £1199.99. If your heart is set on one, but your budget doesn’t quite stretch, we recommend waiting until sale events like Prime Day and Black Friday, as the brand often offers notable discounts.
Warranty
Shark offers guarantees from two to five years depending on the appliance. While not necessary, it recommends registering your guarantee after purchase – simply head to the website and fill in the form so your details are on hand should you need any help. Replacement parts, like filters and tools, are available for purchase on its website, too.
Dyson cordless and robot vacuums come with a two-year guarantee while its corded products have a five-year one. It also recommends registering your purchase and if anything goes wrong outside of normal wear and tear, the brand covers costs associated with repairing or replacing parts. Parts and accessories are available for purchase on the Dyson website.
We also love Dyson Renewed, which lets you purchase refurbished vacuums at cheaper prices. All repairs are done with original parts by authorised staff, so you still receive a premium product. A one-year guarantee is included and there’s a 35-day money-back returns policy.
If you’re replacing an existing vacuum, there are plenty of places for you to safely recycle your old one. Find your nearest electrical recycling point, or read our guide on how to donate or dispose of your appliances and tech for extra guidance.
Now we’ve got the technicalities out the way, we've compared our top Shark and Dyson upright, stick and robot vacuums to help you choose the best model for your home.
Test one: Upright vacuums
The best upright vacuums are ideal for cleaning larger homes with a lot of carpet or a mix of carpet and hard floors, as the corded design gives you unlimited power to tackle the whole home in one go.
Some automatically adjust the height of the nozzle to accommodate different flooring while others need to be manually adjusted. They usually come with a range of attachments (that you can store onboard) for cleaning under furniture or in tight spaces.
Shark
Shark Classic Lift-Away 1.1L Upright Vacuum
Pros
- Well-designed
- Dust canister is clear so it’s easy to see when it needs emptying
- Powerful suction
Cons
- Vacuum head is quite bulky
- Limited attachments
Key specifications
| Capacity | 1.1L |
|---|---|
| Tools | 2-in-1 duster crevice tool |
| Wattage | 750W |
| Weight | 5.25kg |
Score: 89/100
Collecting almost every speck of dust we laid down (including those stuck in floorboard crevices), this is our go-to Shark vacuum for deep cleaning. It reached down deep into the carpet pile too, scoring full marks thanks to its impressive suction.
Eight metres of cord provides plenty of flexibility for vacuuming round your home, which is needed as the hose is on the short side and quite stiff. This meant the lift-away technology came in very handy when tackling the stairs. Just detach the canister from the floor head and you can clean the whole set without the vacuum wobbling or falling over.
Dyson
Dyson Ball Animal Upright Vacuum
Dyson Ball Animal Upright Vacuum
Pros
- Reaches under furniture with ease
- No tangling of hair in the vacuum head
- Large capacity dust bin
Cons
- Low suction at the front of the vacuum head when cleaning along edges
- Struggled on long pile carpet
Key specifications
| Capacity | 1.15L |
|---|---|
| Tools | Detangling cleaner head, turbine tool, combination tool, stair tool |
| Wattage | 90AW |
| Weight | 5.6kg |
Score: 86/100
Dyson first launched The Ball two decades ago, and while the brand now focuses solely on cordless models, the Dyson Ball Animal 3 upright vacuum is still a standout performer for its easy manoeuvrability and outstanding cleaning performance.
With a cord that’s over 10 metres long, it should reach into most rooms, saving you having to pause and change plug sockets mid-clean. Its ‘Radial Root Cyclone’ technology offers powerful suction and captures dirt and allergens in the vacuum's bin. The filters then trap particles and expel cleaner air into your home.
In action, the power of this tech is clear. In fact, the suction proved so mighty on short pile carpets, it even lifted stubborn dirt on top of what we'd laid, picking up 125 per cent of dust on average – seriously impressive.
We were less blown away by its ability to pick up larger debris on long pile carpet where it only managed to lift 79 per cent of biscuit crumbs, but its wide array of tools and good pet hair pick-up won it brownie points.
The winner: Shark
The Good Housekeeping Institute’s winning upright vacuum is neither Dyson nor Shark – it's Hoover’s HL4 Pet Vacuum Cleaner. But, in the battle of the brands, the Shark Classic Lift-Away Upright Vacuum Cleaner scored three marks more.
Dyson’s upright still boasts excellent cleaning performance and a larger array of tools that will help you tackle more specific tasks with ease. However, Shark’s deep cleaning performance couldn’t be matched here.
Test two: Stick vacuums
The darling of the vacuum cleaner world, the best cordless stick vacuums are lightweight and convenient. Something you can grab easily when you need to clean up the kitchen floor before guests arrive or get rid of pet hair on your rug.
They’ve come along way too – the latest models have multiple power levels, more powerful and longer-lasting batteries, and innovative attachments that might just convince you to wave goodbye to your upright forever.
Shark
Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
Pros
- Intuitive to use
- Simple soft trigger to change the power setting
- Charges and empties after every use
Cons
- Could be better balanced; the brush head didn’t always move smoothly in the desired direction
Key specifications
| Capacity | Up to 45 days of dust and debris |
|---|---|
| Weight | 8.4kg (including docking station); 3.71kg vacuum alone |
| Running time | Up to 70 minutes |
| Tools | Crevice tool, upholstery tool, pet tool, accessory bag, battery, charger, motorised pet tool, docking station |
Score: 92/100
This is Shark’s priciest stick vacuum for good reason – it solves a problem you didn’t even know you had thanks to its Reverse Clean tech, which picks up debris when moving forwards and backwards for more efficient cleaning.
Sensors react and adapt the brushes to the surface you’re vacuuming too, resulting in excellent suction that collected 99.9 per cent of dust from all surfaces on test. Plus, our experts really noticed the difference when the automatic power boost kicked in, offering extra oomph when tackling particularly dirty areas. There’s also anti-hair wrap technology, which promises to keep the brush rolls tangle-free.
At 3.71kg, it’s relatively lightweight, but when used in handheld mode, testers found it top heavy, especially over long periods of use. Only boost mode achieved the desired deep clean on car carpets too, meaning the battery died after 15 minutes rather than the 60 minutes you get on eco mode.
Our testers tried the version with a docking station, and found it a straightforward, worry-free feature, praising how it automatically charged and emptied the vacuum, sealing away fine dust, allergens and odours. You can buy a version without it too, but it's worthwhile if you can find it a home.
Dyson
Dyson V16 Piston Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
Pros
- Connected app is easy to use
- Powerful suction (315AW)
- Large dust bin capacity thanks to compacting technology
Cons
- Struggled with picking up finer debris on our car test
- Expensive
Features at a Glance
| Capacity | 1.3L |
|---|---|
| Running time | 70 minutes |
| Weight | 3.4kg |
| Tools | Wall dock, crevice tool, hair screw tool 2.0, combi tool |
Score: 96/100
This is one of Dyson’s most recent cordless vacuum launches, claiming to be its “most powerful anti-tangle" model yet – and it’s safe to say we were impressed.
The dual conical cleaning head helps out massively with this. Resembling two cones stuck together, the angled head picks up long hairs and pushes them along the rotating bar to the thinner end where they get sucked up into the bin (it’s incredibly satisfying). Some larger clumps took longer to reach the bin, getting stuck at the end of the cone for a few seconds, but we were really impressed with its overall handling of long hair strands, collecting everything in one swift pass.
In other areas, its dust pick-up was also fantastic; it scored full marks on long-pile carpets and for cleaning up biscuit crumbs and cereal on hard floors. The LED lights in the floor head highlight any missed spots of dust too.
Another standout feature is the compacting dust bin – just slide down the red handle and the vacuum squashes the collected dust down to make more room so you can keep cleaning for longer. Speaking of time spent vacuuming, you won’t get caught out by the battery either as it lasted almost half an hour on max, while we were able to vacuum on eco mode for 70 minutes.
We had to deduct a few marks when it missed some dust long the front head at the edge of the skirting board, but the crevice tool can step in on those odd occasions. All in all, it’s a standout vacuum that’s difficult to fault.
The winner: Dyson
Dyson takes the crown here. It’s currently the highest scoring of all the stick vacuums we’ve tested and is a real powerhouse in terms of both run time and cleaning performance.
Shark’s stick vacuum is an excellent choice for pet owners though, thanks to its thorough pick-up of pet hair and its anti-odour cartridges, which keep the vacuum smelling fresh.
Test three: Robot vacuums
The best robot vacuums have come a long way since we first tested them, and now offer greater pick-up power, larger dust canisters and better mopping functions. You can schedule automatic cleans when you aren’t at home, start them with a push of a button, or fire them up with your voice or smart speaker. Convenient and capable, they're an easy way to keep your floors looking their best with minimal effort. The dream.
Shark
Shark PowerDetect Robot Vacuum and Mop
Shark PowerDetect Robot Vacuum and Mop
Pros
- Very easy to set up
- Connected app is simple to navigate
- Dust bin is easy to remove, empty and refit
Cons
- Docking station and robot are both heavy
- Flicked debris away on the odd occasion
Features at a Glance
| Mapping technology | 360-degree LiDAR |
|---|---|
| Running time | Returns to dock automatically when battery is low |
| Canister capacity | Up to 60 days of debris |
Score: 93/100
Shark was a late comer to the robot vacuum market but is now shining and this model is the perfect example.
With built-in smart technology that detects and reacts to messes in your home to optimise cleaning, this robot put in a stellar performance in the lab, picking up biscuit crumbs and cereal with ease. Long pile carpet proved a slight challenge with the robot missing some dust that was ingrained deep within.
The NeverStuck Technology ensures navigation is smooth. It allows the robot to lift and lower slightly to get round obstacles and over small thresholds such as the strips in doorways. Plus, the Shark app is easy to use, with the option of adding no-go zones to the robot’s map and dividing rooms up further.
This robot vacuum also has mopping functionality with the docking station holding up to 1.7L of water – enough for up to 30 days of cleaning. In the lab, it worked quickly and methodically, returning to dirty patches multiple times to ensure a clean finish. All the mud we laid down was removed and only a small smudge of red wine was left. Plus, once it’s done, it returns to the base to wash and dry the mod pad so that it’s always ready for its next clean.
Dyson
Pros
- Generates a map on the app showing how much dirt it picked up after each clean
- Navigated easily around table and chair legs
- Extra instructions are available on the app and via YouTube
Cons
- Heavy to lift
- When emptying was required, the app reports a ‘fault’ which is slightly jarring at first
- Battery on boost mode wasn’t great
Key specifications
| Mapping technology | 360-degree vision system |
|---|---|
| Running time | Up to 65 minutes |
| Canister capacity | 0.5L |
Score: 95/100
Dyson claims the 360 Vis Nav is the world's most powerful robot vacuum, with six times the suction power of any other. It lived up to this punchy claim too, reliably collecting dust and debris to claim the top spot in our list of best buys.
It was simple to set up with testers mapping the room, creating no-go zones and scheduling cleans without a fuss. We liked the wider-than-average brush roll, which runs the entire width of the robot and the extending side duct that redirects suction to capture dust and debris against the wall, solving a problem that lots of robot vacuums struggle with.
It wasn’t perfect, leaving some crumbs in tight corners, but it learns to dust hot spots and prioritises cleaning them first, automatically increasing suction for a deeper clean.
You have to empty the onboard dustbin yourself, which generally isn’t required with other robot vacuums at this price point. However, it self-charges once it’s returned to its base, which takes up less space than a self-emptying docking station.
Overall, it’s a sleek addition to the robot vacuum market and its cleaning power justifies its premium price tag.
The winner: Dyson (just)
Dyson’s powerful suction and dust hot spot technology places it at the very top of our list of robot vacuums. If your budget can stretch, it truly is a market-leader.
However, if you’re after a vacuum that can also mop, Shark is our current pick. We’re currently testing Dyson’s new robot vacuum and mop and will update this page once the results have landed. Even so, it’s hard to ignore the Shark’s performance at such a great price.
The bottom line: Is Shark or Dyson better?
Here comes the annoying answer: it depends. Both Shark and Dyson vacuums perform exceptionally well. But as always, it will come down to budget and which type of vacuum you're after.
In a nutshell, Shark provides very good cleaning and smart design features at great value. Whereas Dyson's strength is its cleaning prowess, filtration, wide attachment set and innovative tech.
Based off our current test results, we’d go for Shark’s Classic Lift-Away Upright Vacuum and Dyson’s 360 Vis Nav Robot Vacuum and V16 Piston Animal Cordless Vacuum.
If you’re looking for the best handheld vacuum, the Shark Classic Handheld Pet Vacuum is the one you should turn too. It's the current joint winner in our roundup, scoring 94/100. Dyson’s Car+Boat Handheld is still a great gadget, scoring 89/100 in our tests, but its £250 price point can’t compete with the Shark model.
How we test Shark and Dyson vacuums
We test all types of vacuum cleaner at the Good Housekeeping Institute, putting them to work on four different floor types: laminate, floorboards and long- and short-pile carpet. Our team evaluate general pick-up using a formulation of dust that they create themselves. They lay down a set amount and weigh exactly how much the vacuums have collected after a set number of sweeps.
To assess each vacuum's pet hair pick-up, we source the real thing from our GH pets and tread it into the carpet to create a worst-case scenario. We also crumble biscuit over the floors and note down how effectively each vacuum picks up this smaller residue.
Where relevant, we run an interior car cleaning test to see how well each model lifts debris from between crevices. We also try them out on a set of stairs to check manoeuvrability.
For robot vacuums, we evaluate how well they clean a whole room, timing how long it takes and how well it cleans edges and navigates around furniture. We look at the vacuum’s accompanying apps and see how easy it is to schedule cleans and map out no-go zones. We also test the battery claims of handheld and stick models.
As performance is just one piece of the puzzle, our testers also consider the design, ease of use and instructions of every model, so we can provide valuable insights on what it’s really like to use and maintain them.
Why trust the Good Housekeeping Institute?
We’ve been testing household products at the Good Housekeeping Institute for over 100 years and have used all of this expertise to design protocols that push products to their limits.
Our homes testers, led by manager Blossom Boothroyd, have reviewed hundreds of vacuums in our dedicated floor cleaning room and consistently evaluate the newest features in vacuuming tech. They share all their feedback with senior homes writer, Megan Geall, who looks after all Good Housekeeping’s vacuuming guides, and goes through everything with a fine toothcomb to bring you thorough impartial reviews you can trust.
Megan is the Good Housekeeping Institute’s senior homes and lifestyle writer. She loves diving into the latest product releases to find the very best buys on the market and has written hundreds of product reviews on everything from the best vacuum cleaners and coffee machines to the best ice cream makers and robot window cleaners.
When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her running every distance from 5km to 100km or relaxing at home with her cat – there really is no in between.
Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, Women's Health, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. You can find Megan on Instagram @meganlouisegeall.
Blossom is passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for GH readers. As head of the homes testing team, she has led reviews across multiple categories, from pizza ovens, and smart plugs to portable fans and hobs. She enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols to ensure we’re testing them against their claims. Her aim is to find the top-performing products on the market, to help take the hard work out of housework. Blossom’s most notable accomplishment in the lab has been toasting 528 slices of bread in her quest to find the best toasters money can buy. In her free time, she openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.
