The Roomba and the Roborock are two of the most popular brands that offer automated floor cleaning robotics for residential dwellings in the US. The products between the two companies have even become increasingly difficult to distinguish, especially since so many of the core features are now integrated into both the high-end Roomba and Roborock offerings.
Don’t worry: We’ve tested many robot vacs and know what to look for When it comes to reviews of robot vacuums, two names often come up: Roomba and Neato. They’re both talented companies with established track records, so what’s the difference? We typically don’t review products that overcharge, are poorly made, or can’t hold a charge, but the Roomba and Roboreti are both well-made name brands with great reputations for value.
Design
Back to back, roundish Roombas and Roborocks look almost identical. The devices use bristle brushes that automatically flick back up when confronting obstacles or carpet, and add automatic height adjustment and replaceable air filters (140nd 141nd and decoded in glorious detail here and here, respectively). But there are a few differences. Roborock has more hybrid models with additional mopping functionality (more on that below), and Roomba has many more models with a side brush that snaps out to the side at the front edge (like the S9 series below) to help with cleaning baseboards and corners. Roomba’s designs might be slightly more burly and versatile in the average home.
Winner: Roomba
Available models
There’s the S9 series, the j7 series and the i3 series; iRobot have discontinued a lot of their older series’.
Roborock too offers several ranges, the S7, the S5, the Q7 and the E5 (I hope the confusion of the two companies won’t hamper your critical thinking process during consumer research).
Yes, the lines are close, but Roborock goes the distance with options In conclusion, if you are more interested in features and have more shopping options, Roborock offers a wider range of robot vacuums, which means you have more choices and are more likely to find a winner for your household.
Winner: Roborock
Battery life
The highest end models of Roomba advertise battery life of up to two hours (depending on which modes you employ and so forth), and virtually all models are designed to be able to finish a job or part of a job and trek back to their base stations to juice up again, then back out to do the work. Battery life is less of a concern than it once was, but it can still be relevant when it comes to large rooms and, also, reducing wear and tear.
The Roborock vacuums vary but of lasting 200 minutes or, in a few models, even three hours (yes, the minutes and hours vary again). Roborock’s models generally also initially feature the ability to go back to their home base and recharge, but generally the Roborock can stay on the floor longer on a single charge.
Winner: Roborock
Cleaning power
Suction: Having more suction makes it easier and quicker for a robot vacuum to clean up large bits of debris, and can be a help with carpets, too. Besides suction, there are other factors to consider. An important one: what is the suction rating? iRobot has said that its vacuums today are 40x more powerful than its original ones, but that doesn’t tell us much. Roombas max out around 2,500Pa but there may be others that go up higher.
But many of Roborock’s models come close, with suction ratings as high as 2,500Pa. Roborock also has models that can vacuum even harder, including the 2,700Pa Q7 and the beefiest of them all, the 4,200Pa Q7 Max. If raw suction is your primary goal, Roborock has the most powerful bots for the money.
Winner: Roborock
Smart features
Regardless of what vacuum brand you use, the apps are similarly laden with features and their bots stuffed full of sensors. Roombas use Imprint Smart Mapping to scan, learn, and give names to all the rooms in your house, enabling you to manage floor plans and big-picture scheduling as you see fit. You can also tackle individual rooms or call on a Roomba to roam and look for nooks and crannies wherever the vacuum sees fit (you can also drop a Virtual Wall around items or furniture/rugs the bot is to avoid without lifting a finger), or call it back if there’s a spot-cleaning you need done.
Roomba’s higher-end models feature Dirt Detect™ technology that comes in handy if you have kids: these bots will tell when a spot is more dirty than another and ramp up the brush and vacuum power accordingly until the mess is gone. Their apps also make suggestions over time for how and when to clean. And with the right base station equipped, Roomba will take it upon itself to auto-empty its bin, ensuring that you do not have to take out the trash for weeks at a time. Roombas are also compatible with voice assistants Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant – meaning you can use your voice to give them instructions.
Meanwhile, roborocks really are rock-smart. They deploy lidar to map their rooms and use ‘Adaptive Route Algorithms’ to devise the best possible cleaning trajectory. From the app, schedules can be set and suction power adjusted. And – if your model has a mapping function – ‘invisible walls’ can be created, so the vacuum learns not to go into your kitchen when it’s busy. Most roborocks can find their way back to their stations to empty their bins, so you don’t have to worry about keeping an eye on them. They also partner with Alexa and Google Home.
Although most of it gives users the same conveniences, because all robot vacuums are more or less identical in form, some Roomba models feature an unusual and slightly unnerving outerness, such as spot-cleaning and dirt detection.
Winner: Roomba
What about mopping capabilities?
Roombas and Roborock vacs can be equipped with tools that mop your floor, but they do it very differently. Figure 3: Roomba S9+ with Braava Mopping Robot (courtesy of iRobot).If you want mopping, iRobot sells an entirely separate line of wares, the Braava robot mops, which can be bought separately and strapped onto the back of a Roomba. The vacs themselves don’t have any ability to mop.
Roborock, by contrast, makes hybrids (vacuuming with mopping within the same rolling device), but eschews pads in favour of sonic mop vibration combined with small sprays of water (presumably to help lift stains more thoroughly), supplemented by a sensor that tells the vac it has reached the carpet. The best of modern models can even return to their base for refilling their water tanks. Some of the best water-based cleaning available on the robot vacuum market today. And all hands-off.
Winner: Roborock
Pricing
On the pricier end, Roomba and Roborock models typically sell for between $900 to $100. The Roomba S9+ costs $1,000 and the Roborock S7+ is $950 (Roborocks go higher; the S7 MaxV Ultra is $1,400, capable of ‘whispering, shout[ing]… and leaping tall couches in a single bounce’ as Slate once gushed over the earlier S55 model). On the low end, you can score something for about $300. If you have this much option for choice, and you’re willing to compromise to find a price you can live with, there isn’t much difference here.
Winner: Tie
Conclusion: Which robot vacuum brand is best?
Not that Roomba hasn’t superior smarts; but where Roborock couldn’t keep pace before was in potential power and how often it will naturally combine suction and sonic mop vibration – and earlier this year we showed why we are so taken with Roborock’s most recent technologies. As to what a keen robovac consumer should consider first, we think it’s Roborock, but that doesn’t mean to exclude Roombas entirely from the competition.
