About Bissell
BISSELL got its start in 1876, when Melville Bissell patented a carpet sweeper in the family's small crockery shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan — a design born out of frustration with sawdust packed into the shop's carpet. The company incorporated in 1883, and when Melville died in 1889, his wife Anna Bissell took over as CEO, becoming one of the first female chief executives in American business history. The company remains headquartered in Grand Rapids and privately held by the Bissell family today, with a catalog that has grown from carpet sweepers into deep-cleaning carpet machines, steam mops, cordless and handheld vacuums, and full-size upright and robot vacuums.
The brand backs its cleaning lineup with the BISSELL Pet Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Cathy Bissell that runs Empty the Shelters, the nation's largest funded pet adoption event. Since the program began in 2016, it has helped place nearly 400,000 pets from more than 900 shelters into homes by reimbursing shelters for reduced or waived adoption fees. That pet focus carries through the product engineering we've tested directly: motorized rubber nozzles that grip embedded pet hair instead of pushing it around, dedicated pet-stain formulas and tools built into the carpet cleaner and handheld vacuum lines, and warranty terms, two years on the steam mops we tested, that run longer than competing brands in the same categories.
Brand website: bissell.com
What Bissell makes
Bissell's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Carpet & upholstery cleaners
deep-cleaning uprights and portable spot cleaners, including the Little Green line — featured on DIYRated — featured on DIYRated
Steam mops
upright and multi-surface steam cleaners for sealed hard floors — featured on DIYRated — featured on DIYRated
Handheld & cordless vacuums
motorized pet-hair nozzles and battery-powered hand vacuums — featured on DIYRated — featured on DIYRated
Full-size & robot vacuums
upright, canister, and robotic vacuum lines
Air purifiers
HEPA air purifiers for home allergen and odor control
Pet cleaning accessories
pet-specific stain and odor formulas, cartridges, and hose tools
Why we recognized Bissell
The DIYRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Bissell earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, put to work on real jobs, and judged on merit.
Bissell products we rated highly
Bissell PowerFresh Steam Mop 1940A
The most feature-complete upright steam mop we tested under three figures. Three variable steam settings let you dial down for sealed hardwood and up for grout and dried food spills, a flip-down Easy Scrubber handles stuck-on messes without an attachment swap, and a 23-foot cord gives among the longest reach in the upright class. Nearly 50,000 verified reviews back a 4.5-star average, and its two-year limited warranty doubles the coverage of comparable machines we tested.
Read the 7 Best Steam Mops of 2026 guide →
BISSELL Big Green Professional 86T3
Delivered the highest suction in our carpet cleaner testing at 12 amps, extracting more water per pass and shortening dry time. A 1.75-gallon tank covers an entire room without a refill, and bi-directional XL DirtLifter brushes scrub on both the push and pull stroke. More than 16,000 verified reviews back a 4.7-star average, one of the highest ratings we recorded in the category.
Read the 7 Best Carpet Cleaners of 2026 guide →
BISSELL ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Plus 3588F
A top pick in our pet-focused carpet cleaner testing: a genuine 30-minute heat dry cuts drying time measurably versus non-heated machines, and 12-Row Dual DirtLifter brushes scrub on both the push and pull stroke. An 8-foot pet hose with a dedicated stain tool reaches stairs, sofas, and car interiors that uprights can't.
Read the 7 Best Carpet Cleaners of 2026 guide →
BISSELL Little Green 1400B
Our portable spot-cleaning pick, backed by more than 93,000 verified reviews for removing pet stains, wine, and set-in spots that uprights leave behind. At 9.7 pounds it's genuinely one-handed portable, and a two-tank design keeps clean solution separate from dirty water so you're never re-wetting the carpet with what you just extracted.
Read the 7 Best Carpet Cleaners of 2026 guide →
BISSELL Little Green Max Pet SmartMix 38572
The pet-focused evolution of the Little Green line in our testing: a SmartMix system auto-doses the formula so the carpet can't be over-saturated, and a self-cleaning hose tool flushes itself between uses. A dedicated pet hair removal tool pulls embedded fur out of upholstery before extraction, work most spot cleaners in our roundup can't do.
Read the 7 Best Carpet Cleaners of 2026 guide →
Bissell PowerFresh Deluxe 1806
A top pick for anyone who wants one machine covering floors and above-floor surfaces in our testing: a detachable handheld converts it into a counter, cabinet, and bathroom-fixture steamer, and a pre-attached SpotBoost scrub brush flips down on demand for dried-on messes. Its 25-foot cord was the longest we tested, and a two-year limited warranty covers both the mop body and the handheld.
Read the 7 Best Steam Mops of 2026 guide →
Bissell Pet Hair Eraser 2390A
Earned the highest customer rating in our handheld vacuum roundup at 4.6 stars across nearly 38,000 reviews. A motorized rubber nozzle grips pet hair from upholstery and car seats that smooth plastic nozzles slide right over, and at 70 dB it was the quietest unit we tested.
Read the 7 Best Handheld Cordless Vacuums of 2026 guide →What earned Bissell the recognition
- Founded in 1876 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when Melville Bissell patented the original carpet sweeper; his wife Anna took over as CEO after his death in 1889, becoming one of the first female CEOs in American business.
- Remains a family-owned company headquartered in Grand Rapids 150 years into the business Melville and Anna started.
- Through the BISSELL Pet Foundation's Empty the Shelters program, the company has helped place nearly 400,000 pets into homes from more than 900 shelters since the program began in 2016.
- Products across our carpet cleaner, steam mop, and handheld vacuum testing post some of the highest verified review counts in each roundup, several with tens of thousands of ratings above 4.4 stars.
- Purpose-built pet-cleaning engineering, DirtLifter brushes, motorized rubber nozzles, dedicated pet hair tools, and pet stain formulas, shows up across multiple product categories rather than a single flagship item.