The best carpet cleaners in Australia

A carpet cleaner sprays water and formula into the pile, scrubs it with a brush, and sucks the dirty water back into a separate tank. Machines sold in Australia run from a $199 compact washer at Bunnings to an $899 steam upright, and the money buys tank size, heat, and how many brushes do the scrubbing. Prices below are from Bunnings, The Good Guys, Bissell and Dreame on 18 October 2026; for models also on Amazon Australia, check the current price on Amazon. We compared maker specifications, retailer listings and warranty terms; we have not cleaned our own carpets with these machines.

Upright or spot cleaner

An upright carpet washer is for whole rooms. You push it like a vacuum, its tanks hold 1.8 to 4.7 L of clean water, and most come with a hose for stairs and upholstery. A spot cleaner is a portable box with a hose and a hand tool. It holds 1 to 2 litres of clean water and is for spills, pet accidents, couches and car seats. Homes with pets often need both.

All eight picks plug into the wall. Cordless versions exist, such as the Hoover ONEPWR SmartWash ($799 at The Good Guys), but they cost more.

What to compare

• Tanks. A bigger clean tank means fewer trips to the sink. Check the dirty tank too: the Dreame CU20 Pro holds 4 L of clean water but only 1.5 L of dirty water.
• Heat. Bissell’s SpotClean ProHeat heats water and solution to up to 50°C. Bissell’s Revolution HydroSteam and Dreame’s CU20 Pro add steam. Vax lists heated cleaning as not available on both its picks, and Hoover’s Heatforce on the PowerScrub XL is described as faster drying.
• Weight. From 5.7 kg (Vax Compact Power) to 10.2 kg (Bissell Revolution HydroSteam). If you have stairs, lighter is better.
• Cord and hose. 6 to 8 m cords on the uprights that list one; a 2.5 m hose on the Vax Rapid Power Refresh and the Dreame.
• Warranty. Two years is standard; Hoover gives three on the PowerScrub XL.

The price ladder

The picks

The Hoover PowerScrub XL is the best value for whole rooms. It has a 3.8 L clean tank and a 3.0 L dirty tank, five counter-rotating SpinScrub brushes, a 7 m cord, and a three-year warranty, the longest here. Hoover lists heated cleaning and Heatforce drying. It weighs 8.6 kg. It was $399 at The Good Guys; Amazon showed it temporarily out of stock on 18 October.

The Bissell Revolution HydroSteam is the one for sticky, set-in stains. It adds steam to the wash in its Steam Pretreat and SteamWash modes, holds 3.7 L in each tank, and has a Quick Dry mode that The Good Guys says can leave carpet dry in about 30 minutes for lighter cleans. At 10.2 kg it is the heaviest pick. It was $795 at The Good Guys and $879 at Bissell.

The Bissell SpotClean ProHeat SmartMix is our spot cleaner pick. It heats water and solution to up to 50°C in about 30 seconds, mixes the formula for you, and has a self-cleaning stain tool. It was $349 at The Good Guys and Bissell. For pet accidents on rugs between hard floors, this is the machine to own; the pets guide covers the hard floors themselves.

The Vax Compact Power is $199 at Bunnings. It is Vax’s lightest carpet washer at 5.7 kg, with a narrow head for small rooms and tanks of 1.8 L and 1.5 L. The Vax Rapid Power Refresh ($299 at Bunnings) has the biggest clean tank here, 4.7 L, and a 7 m cord. Neither heats the water.

The Bissell PowerForce 4056F is the compact washer to buy on Amazon: about 6 kg, a four-row DeepReach PowerBrush, 2.3 L and 1.3 L tanks, and a 6 m cord. Bissell’s own store had it sold out; the PowerForce Pet (4059F) was $349 at The Good Guys.

The Shark CarpetXpert with StainStriker combines a carpet washer and a spot tool in one 8 kg machine, $499 at The Good Guys. Shark does not publish tank sizes on the pages we read. The Dreame CU20 Pro Steam has a 4 L clean tank, an 8 m cord and steam, but at $899 it is the dearest.

Formula, pre-treating and wool

Use the maker’s formula; the machines are designed around it and some list which ones are compatible. Bissell’s stain steps for the Revolution HydroSteam suggest warm water in the clean tank with about 60 mL of its upright carpet formula and 120 mL of Oxy Boost. Before cleaning a wool or expensive rug, check its care label and test a hidden corner.

Hard floors too?

These machines are for carpet. For tiles and timber, see the hard floor cleaner guide or the steam mop guide. The home page lists every guide.

The one trap

Believing the drying time on the box. Quick-dry claims assume a warm, airy room: The Good Guys describes Bissell’s 30 minute Express Clean figure as being for warm, ventilated conditions, and says Shark’s CarpetXpert HairPro leaves carpet damp for 2 to 6 hours depending on airflow and pile. Clean in the morning, open the windows or run a fan, and do the last pass in dry mode (suction only) to pull out as much water as you can.