If you share your home with a dog or cat, you'll know that pet hair has a habit of getting absolutely everywhere. It clings to carpets, gathers under furniture and somehow finds its way onto the clean laundry. A robot vacuum can take some of the sting out of the endless battle, but not every model is up to the job.
We've tested these robot vacuums in real homes with pets, looking beyond headline suction figures to see how well they actually pick up embedded fur, cope with shedding and avoid getting their brushes clogged. We've also considered the things that make a difference once the novelty wears off, from self-emptying docks that save you handling a bin full of fluff to dependable navigation around toys, bowls and the occasional abandoned chew.
Every robot vacuum in this guide has earned its keep for a reason, whether you want a capable all-rounder, a more affordable way to stay on top of shedding or a hands-off option for a particularly furry household. Here's how to find the right one for your floors, your pets and your patience.
If you're after a robot vacuum for more general cleaning duties, take a look at our best robot vacuums guide.
The best robot vacuum for pet hair overall
The best robot vacuum for pet hair right now is the Dreame L40 Ultra. This premium robot vacuum boasts impressive suction power, and on test it handled the large volumes of dog hair in our reviewer's home better than anything else we've tried so far, on both hard floor and carpet. The dock dust capacity is also slightly larger than usual, which means you won't have to replace the dust bags quite so often.
It's not especially cheap (although at this point you can usually avoid paying the full asking price) but it is incredibly capable, and worth the asking price if you have pets and are sick of the constant vacuuming. And frankly, most robovacs are built for light maintenance cleaning: if you want something that can tackle tricker tasks like handling lots of pet hair, you'll need to shell out a little more.
Aside from the powerful pickup, the L40 Ultra is just a generally great all-rounder. The rotating mop pads are exceptionally effective, and will clear muddy pawprints with no trouble at all. The dock will take care of most maintenance tasks for you, including emptying the dust, refilling the bot's water tank, and washing and drying the mop pads. Not all these features will be essential for everyone, but if you're going to be running this bot regularly then they will be a big effort-saver. Its navigation is accurate, mapping efficient, and obstacle avoidance strong, too. Well worth the investment.
Read our full Dreame L40 Ultra review
The best budget robot vacuum for pet hair
The Roborock Q7 M5 has replaced the older and seemingly less-available Roborock Q5 Pro+ as the best budget robot vacuum for pet hair. It's one of the cheapest Roborock models – and as it's more than a year old you may be able to find some compelling discounts on it.
In our testing, this budget bot offers a lot of performance for its price, and deal with pet hair with suitable aplomb; the caveat here is such hairs, and human hair as well, can wrap around the robot's roller. But you can't expect perfection at this budget price, nor will you be blown away by its how adept its mopping skills are or object avoidance capabilities.
Nevertheless, the Roborock Q7 M5 is still a worthy budget pick, and is also nice and compact for people living in smaller apartments. And despite the size, in our testing the vacuuming skills of the Q7 M5 performed very well both in terms of navigation and what it can suck up.
"The Roborock Q7 M5 is a robust robot vacuum that offers impressively strong suction for a budget-friendly price. It lacks the bells and whistles of newer bots, but is still a capable cleaner, performing well in my cleaning tests and navigating tall thresholds reliably well thanks to bouncy suspension and chunky wheels," summarizes reviewer Ruth Hamilton.
Read our full Roborock Q7 M5 review
The best mid-range robot vacuum for pet hair
The Shark Matrix Plus combination robot vacuum and mop handles pet hair well, and comes in at an affordable price. There's a version with just a charge dock, but if you're dealing with pet hair, it's worth upgrading to the model with the self-empty base – or you'll end up manually emptying the small on-bot bin every two minutes.
While we couldn't find suction specs online, on test it proved more than capable at handling pet hair. It effortlessly picked up the stubborn, fine hair of our reviewer's two sprocker spaniels, and directed it into the bin without letting it tangle around the roller. It also has a novel (and effective) way of tackling the edges of rooms: it blasts air to blow the dust and dirt there into the bot's path.
Elsewhere, you're getting an effective HEPA filtration system, the option to add no-go zones in the app (so the bot knows to avoid food bowls and crates, if your pet is nervous around things that move but don't have a face).
It's not as smart or feature-rich as our #1 pick, and the mopping is fine but not great. While the dock will empty the dust bin, it doesn't really do anything else, so be prepared to deal with tasks like refilling water and regularly cleaning mop pads yourself. However, for its budget-to-mid-range price this is a solid pick for pet-owners.
Read our full Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 review
The best premium robot vacuum for pet hair
If you're prepared to spend big on keeping pet hair under control, the Roborock Saros 20 is a seriously capable cleaning companion. Its powerful 35,000Pa suction and redesigned roller system make light work of loose fur, and our reviewer found it particularly effective on carpet, clearing almost all the dog hair she had worked deep into the pile after four passes. Crucially, the dock also managed to empty the collected hair without clogging during testing.
It's packed with clever features beyond vacuuming, too. At just 7.98cm tall, it can squeeze beneath furniture that taller robot vacuums can't reach, while its adjustable chassis helps it tackle thicker rugs and awkward thresholds. The dock takes care of emptying the dustbin, washing the mop pads with 100°C water and drying them afterwards, so there's relatively little day-to-day maintenance to worry about.
It's expensive, and its obstacle avoidance isn't infallible, particularly around cables, so you'll still need to tidy up before setting it loose. But if you want a premium robot vacuum that can keep on top of shedding without constant intervention, the Saros 20 makes a strong case for itself.
Read our full Roborock Saros 20 review
Best robot vacuum and mop for pet hair
The Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni is another excellent mid-range robot vacuum for pet owners. During our tests, we found it excelled at picking up lots of pet hair, as well as other general dirt and debris. The mapping is excellent, which means it'll vacuum in an orderly pattern and won't miss a spot, and the app is intuitive and provides lots of adjustment options.
The dock is the comprehensive type – not only does it charge the bot and empty its onboard bin, but it'll also refill the water tank and wash and dry the mop pads. It actually does that using hot water, for a more thorough and hygienic clean – it'll be a bonus if your pets often track mud into the home.
It's not perfect – the object avoidance is above-average but not amazing, and, like most robovacs, it struggles with corners – but it's pretty close. It's sometimes difficult to find these days, but if you do, it's common to find it discounted into the mid-range, and it's great value for that price.
Read our full Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni review
Also consider
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In our Eufy Omni S2 review, Alistair Charlton praised the robot vacuum for its excellent wet nad dry cleaning capabilities, noting how it coped well with cleaning after a puppy, especially on the mopping side.
But we're not putting the robo vac as a replacement for the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni, as the Eufy Omni S2 is very expensive. It's worth considering if you have an unlimited budget per se, but otherwise you might find the Ecovacs model offers mopping performance that's more than solid for a much cheaper price tag.
Another great affordable robot vacuum for pet hair for US buyers
The Yeedi C12 Pro Plus is officially a mid-range robovac, but it's fairly easy to find it discounted towards the bottom end of that bracket these days. For that price, you're getting suction power in line with far more expensive models. Note: it's only available in the US.
We tested this one out in a household that includes multiple long-haired humans, a couple of dogs and a cat, and it proved capable of picking up plenty of dander and pet hair from floors that, to the eye, looked clean already. The brushrolls remained mostly tangle-free during testing, too.
Of course, there are some compromises you'll need to make. Perhaps the main one to be aware of if you have pets is that the obstacle avoidance isn't entirely reliable. It's also not great at cleaning right up to the edges of rooms, meaning you'll probably need to intervene with a manual vacuum on occasion for a more complete clean. It also lacks advanced features like voice assistant support, and while the dock will empty the onboard bin, it won't clean the mop pads or refill the water tanks.
Read our full Yeedi C12 Pro Plus review
The best robovacs for pet hair: FAQs
Can robot vacuums cope with dog hair?
Some robot vacuums are powerful enough to effectively clear dog or cat hair. In general, robovacs don't have the same suction power as manual vacuums, which means they won't be as effective if you want to do a deep clean of ingrained hair. However, because they work autonomously, you can set them to run regularly (and perhaps more often than you'd want to vacuum manually!), preventing the hair from building up in the first place.
Is an auto-empty robot vacuum worth it?
For many people, yes. The onboard dustbins on robot vacs tends to be small, which means you might end up doing a lot of manual emptying if you don't go for an auto-empty option. This is especially true if it's going to be sucking up a lot of pet hair. However, if you're short on space, be aware that if you go for an auto-empty robovac, you'll need to make room for a much bigger dock. Auto-empty models will often be more expensive, too.
How to choose the best robot vacuum for pet hair
There are a few things that are worth considering when choosing the best robot vacuum for pet hair.
Suction power
If you have any kind of carpets or rugs, you need a robovac with decent suction to be able to effectively pull up hair and dander. Generally, robot vacuums aren't as sucky as manual vacuums, but modern machines are increasingly powerful. The spec you're looking for here is Pascals (Pa).
Although outright suction is an important factor, design also plays a key role here. For example, some of the models here also have rubber rollers rather than a brushroll, which helps with gripping and pulling up hair.
Anti-hair wrap features
If you have a long-haired pet, you'll want a robot vacuum that's designed to filter the hair directly into the bin rather than letting it clog the rollers. Hair wrapping can be a particular issue if you have a robovac with a spinning side brush for edges – some manufacturers have added hair cutting tools to remove hair from these, with varying degrees of success.
Dust bin size / self-empty function
As you might imagine, the dust bins housed on robot vacuums tend to be fairly small. If you have a shedding pet, it's probably worth opting for one that comes with a self-empty function. The down-side is that you'll need to make room for a bigger dock, but it means you won't be constantly emptying the bin yourself.
Object avoidance
Not related to pet hair, but it's definitely worth finding a robot vacuum with decent obstacle avoidance. You want something that's not going to try and vacuum up your pet, for one (some have a special pet mode that mean it's ultra-careful around objects). If you have a pet that sometimes makes a mess on the floor, your robot vacuum is also going to need to identify that reliably, in order to avoid said mess being painted around your entire house. Roomba has a dedicated P.O.O.P promise geared specifically towards this.
Mop function
Many robot vacuums also have a mop function. While it's not so much geared towards tackling pet hair, this can be very useful for general pet messes – muddy pawprints and so on – if you have hard floors in your home.
In-vac camera
Again, not geared towards pet hair, but some robovacs can now double up as a pet spycam. On-board cameras enable you to check on your pet when you're not home, and some have two-way microphones to allow you to speak to them.
How we tested these robot vacuums
✅ We've reviewed 75 robot vacuums in total
✅ ... including 22 new robot vacuums in 2024
✅ We've been testing robovacs for 8 years
Every robot vacuums featured here has been tested either on-team, or by one of our experienced freelance reviewers. We follow the same process for every robovac we test, to ensure the ratings are fair and we can compare model-to-model.
We run a variety of suction tests, using fine and chunkier debris and testing pickup on both hard floor and carpet. Importantly for this guide, we also assess how effective the robovac is at picking up hair on a variety of floor types. If it's a hybrid model, we also run mopping tests, to see how well the bot copes with fresh spillages as well as trickier, dried-on mess.
Mapping and navigation tests assess how efficiently the robovac makes its way through the house, while specific object avoidance tests using everyday gauge how good it is at correctly identifying and responding to things that might get in its way.
As well as these standardized tests, our testers use their robovac regularly for at least a couple of weeks, to get a feel for how user-friendly it is in general. They'll report back on things like noise levels, how regularly the bot has to return to the dock, and how well-designed the app is and how much control it provides. We also compare the features and quality to the asking price, to assess if the robot vacuum represents good value for money.
Read more on how we test robot vacuum cleaners.
