Best Portable Carpet Cleaners of 2025

Compared with full-sized carpet cleaners, the test scores of these portable carpet cleaners appear considerably lower. With only a hose attachment and no spinning bristles, portable carpet cleaners aren’t as powerful as their full-sized counterparts, which have spinning bristles that help scrub out stains.

Although we test them in the same way we test full-sized carpet cleaners (you can read more about how we test them below), you’ll be using portable carpet cleaners for smaller stains and areas, and different types of messes. These five models are convenient to use and leave surfaces relatively dry.

Similar to full-sized models, portable carpet cleaners have two principal functions: They dispense clean water with detergent onto your dirty carpet, then suction up the dirty liquid. All of the portable models we tested have separate tanks for clean and dirty water, although it’s worth noting that their tanks are smaller than those of their larger counterparts.

One key difference between full-sized models and portable ones is that portables apply cleaning fluid and suction it back up with an attachment on a hose. The cleaning bristles of full-sized models work with mechanical action, spinning to help scrub out dirt while you move the machine across a carpet. The brush heads on portable models don’t spin on their own. That means stubborn stains may take a fair bit of elbow grease to get out.

That said, our testers noticed that the way some models dispense water allows for better agitation of soil, making it easier for them to clean. Models with wider nozzles also tend to perform better, in part because wider nozzles allow them to pick up water as it’s dispensed, requiring fewer passes over the same area to do their job.

In our tests, we noticed that despite their small size, portable carpet cleaners make a surprising amount of noise while they’re running. Noise readings for some models approached 90 decibels, which is comparable to the noise full-sized models make.

Tyler Ivester, a CR lab technician, said that while measuring noise readings, he got notifications from his smartwatch about the loud sounds. “My Apple Watch warned me that I was in a ‘loud environment’ with noise levels approaching 90 dB,” he said, “which is fairly high, and definitely at the point where we would typically advise wearing some form of PPE [personal protective equipment] for any testing.”

Though full-sized models are also noisy, you’re typically standing upright while using them, so the noise is a little farther away from your ears. When using a portable carpet cleaner, you’re handling a hose attachment at floor level and are likely to be closer to the machine.

The biggest perk of portable carpet cleaners, though, is their small size and relatively light weight. Where a full-sized carpet cleaner with a full tank of cleaning solution can weigh up to 60 pounds, the heaviest portable model we tested weighs 19 pounds with a full tank, and the lightest one is just 9 pounds when full. That means that they’re great for cleaning hard-to-reach spots in your home, like parts of the carpet under heavy furniture or carpeted stairs, and they’re ideal for toting outside to clean your car upholstery. (While all the carpet cleaners we’ve tested—both full-sized and portable—are corded, some brands are developing cordless cleaners.)

While portable carpet cleaners aren’t designed to do the same job as full-sized models, we still want to get a sense of how their cleaning compares. So in our lab in Yonkers, N.Y., we test them the same way we test full-sized carpet cleaners.

To assess cleaning capability, our testers—led by lab technicians Arianna Coger and Tyler Ivester and overseen by Larry Ciufo—stain carpet samples with a mixture of clay and water and use the portable carpet cleaners to clean up the area, with alternating wet and dry passes. They do two cleaning runs with each model: one with just warm water (about 125° F), and one with a mixture of warm water and detergent (using the same type of detergent with each model). The testers assess cleaning efficacy based on the difference in the stain color before and after cleaning.

Our testing team also assesses how well each model dries carpet by measuring its ability to remove water from it. They apply water to carpet samples and do a dry pass of each model over the carpet, then compare the weight of the carpet before and after to determine the percentage of water that each machine is able to suck up.

To evaluate noise, our testers record and average two noise readings. Factors like the machine’s weight, the capacity of its water tanks, and the number of additional hose attachments determine each model’s convenience score.